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I think there has been a move toward full automation that began at least 100 years ago.  But the challenge of controlling automatic operation was insurmountable.  That challenge took a big leap toward feasibility when diesels replaced steam.  At about that point, we have seen small examples of automated running in specialized applications.  The next big leap toward feasibility is underway now with computers and microprocessors sprouting up on locomotives.  I believe that the greatest accelerator of all toward automation will be PTC.   <o:p></o:p> Right now, PTC appears to be a collision avoidance system.  But collision avoidance is the very control that is needed for heart and brains of automatic operation.  I do not know of any advancement in railroading that has matched the size and scope of the PTC mandate.  I do not expect that its execution will simply amount to installing the system and walking away finished.  PTC will begin a process that will continue into areas where it originally was not intended to go.  It will be unstoppable.
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