The rail freight traffic plays a key role in fulfilling the climate targets in the transport sector. An important part within the rail freight operation is the train preparation and train disassembling. Here, numerous manipulation processes are necessary to disassemble and form trains. These shunting processes are time-consuming and staff intensive. The activities carried out are sometimes dangerous and unattractive for employees. This poses challenges for railway companies, particularly in terms of existing staff shortages. Within this paper it is researched how this challenge can be countered using technical solutions. Therefore, it is investigated how shunting can be supported with drones. For this purpose, existing use cases are considered in which it is necessary for an employee to accompany the shunting process. These existing processes are compared with future processes in which this activity can be performed by drones. It is shown that the use of drones with video recordings and the use of artificial intelligence can provide useful support for the driver. This paper summarises that individual innovations make shunting more attractive, but the key factor is the combination of different of these system solutions, which together enable significant improvements.