Power Electronics and Electric Drives for Traction Applications

5 Railway traction

Xabier Agirre and Gonzalo Abad

5.1 Introduction

This chapter deals with railway traction. First of all, a general description of railway systems and railway vehicles is introduced, describing their most remarkable electric components. After that, a physical approach to the train is developed to enable the reader to obtain an understanding of simulation‐based models, among other things. Then the variable speed drive of railway traction is studied, analyzing different configurations and their relation to the railway power supply system. Much of the chapter is dedicated to presenting and studying energy storage systems (ESSs) for railway applications. Among other aspects, energy storage technologies, trackside energy storage, on‐board energy storage, power converters for energy storage, and some details about norms related to energy storage are studied. After this, ground level supply and auxiliary supply systems are studied. Finally, real examples are described and a short historical evolution of railway traction is provided and new tendencies are also enumerated.

5.2 General description

5.2.1 Railway systems in Europe

Due to historical reasons, railways today use widely different types of electrification systems. Often, based on what was state of the art in a particular country or area, the electrification system was developed, giving today’s DC and AC electrification systems of different voltage amplitude and frequencies, as summarized in Table ...