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Fully automated operation of trains without an on-board crew probably is a long way off. It may never be achieved fully. Having said that, I can envision the day when most of the work is done by automation, with the role of the on-board crew being to monitor the operation and, if necessary, override the system in an emergency. When I started in the electric power industry more than 30 years ago, the power plants, transmission system, and significant portions of the distribution system were controlled manually. If we needed to bring a generator on-line to meet the increased demand associated with a July afternoon in Texas (they get pretty warm), the system control center operator called one of the power plants and told the plant control room operator that a unit would be needed at such and such a time. Today it is all automated. In fact, practically everything is automated.  From the time a customer flips the switch until he or she receives a bill, except in extraordinary circumstances, no one touches anything. It not just the electric utility industry. Today most commercial airline flights are essentially controlled by an on-board computer, which probably controls 95 per cent of the flight. In many respects the pilots are along for the ride, except when it all goes to Hades, in which case the pilots earn their lifetime pay in a few blood curling moments. A pilot recently told me that the machine can fly the plane more efficiently and effectively than a person, but it is creating a problem for the pilots. They are bored.
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