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Abstract Throughout the history of transportation, very few inventions have had the same impact as rail transport. One of the oldest and most established means of transportation, railways, still provides efficient transportation of freight and passengers, but they stand to benefit from cutting-edge technology. The Europe’s Rail FP2 R2DATO project (GA 101102001) is developing technologies in several fields of digital automated up to autonomous train operation seeking a new paradigm in how the rail system is operated, increasing safety, flexibility, capacity, performance and reducing energy consumption and costs. These technologies can be applied to all rail segments including urban light rail. Future trams will benefit from new functionalities including remote control, ATO or perception systems. After collecting operational use cases and operational rules from key players of the urban operating community in Europe, FP2 R2DATO activities on tramway will focus on the remote control operation first, which will allow an operator to drive the vehicle from the office, avoiding the need of getting physically to the tram. This feature is intended to be used in daily operation in depots to support the train preparation, its retirement from service or for shunting within the depot. A first demonstrator is planned in 2024.