This paper presents an adaptive terminal sliding mode control(ATSMC) method for automatic train operation. The criterion for the design is keeping high-precision tracking with relatively less adjustment of the control input. The ATSMC structure is designed by considering the nonlinear characteristics of the dynamic model and the parametric uncertainties of the train operation in real time. A nonsingular terminal sliding mode control is employed to make the system quickly reach a stable state within a finite time, which makes the control input less adjust to guarantee the riding comfort. An adaptive mechanism is used to estimate controller parameters to get rid of the need of the prior knowledge about the bounds of system uncertainty. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller, which has robust performance to deal with the external disturbance and system parametric uncertainties. Thereby, the system guarantees the train operation to be accurate and comfortable.
