Improving the energy efficiency of high speed rail and life cycle comparison with other modes of transport

The world energy crisis and global warming call for a reduction of energy consumption. High speed rail, increasingly viewed as an effective solution to inter-city passenger transportation challenge of the 21st century, has the significant ability of increasing passenger capacity and reducing journey time. The advent of high speed rail provided many research opportunities. So far studies have been contributed from different perspectives: economical, environmental, and technical. The main research gaps are: addressing the problem of the effects of route geometry on train energy consumption and quantifying the contributing factors towards differences in energy consumption between different types of high speed trains. In addition, this energy assessment cannot be based solely on the energy consumption in the operation phase. In the life cycle assessment of the whole railway system, the vehicle evaluation is relatively straightforward, but the infrastructure raises many difficult issues. In this thesis, an existing approach for modelling the traction energy of electric trains is developed and extended to simulate the train operation under different driving strategies. Baseline simulation is carried out to estimate the journey time and energy consumption of a High Speed 2(HS2) reference train running on the London-Birmingham proposed high speed route. The influence of route geometry and train configuration on energy consumption is investigated, based on the metric of energy consumption per passenger kilometre. Simulations are also carried out of different types of high speed rolling stock running on the proposed HS2 route, to identify the key areas of vehicle design which help to minimise the energy consumption of high speed rail travel. The life cycle assessment of railway infrastructure is carried out in four stages of a whole life cycle: production, operation, maintenance and disposal, the influence of route parameters on life cycle cost is also investigated. Finally, high speed rail is compared with competing modes of transport, i.e. the aircraft, the automobile and the conventional train, in both operational energy efficiency and whole life cycle analysis. The high speed rail transportation has great advantage over the road and air transport, giving a reduction of carbon emission by roughly 95%, among which the operation stage contributes the largest reduction.Open Acces

Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

A State of the Art on Railway Simulation Modelling Software Packages and Their Application to Designing Baggage Transfer Services

There is a new baggage transfer service suggested in Newcastle Central Station. In order to prove that this service is feasible, a simulation model can be developed to test the concept and operating pattern behind. For the purposes of this paper, we intend to organize a literature review on simulation modelling software packages employed to study service design. Specifically, this paper has compared five different simulation software packages used by the railway industry to study service-related challenges. As a result, it is suggested that SIMUL8, a macroscopic discrete event-based software package, should be used among the five compared ones because of its simplicity and the ability to give practical results for the design and performance of such a baggage transfer system

Factors Influencing the Energy Consumption of High Speed Rail and Comparisons with other Modes

High speed rail is increasingly viewed as an effective solution to the inter-city passenger transportation challenge of the 21st century due to its ability to significantly increase capacity and reduce journey times between city centres. The motivation behind this thesis is to try to establish whether high speed rail is an efficient mode of transport in terms of operational, traction energy consumption and associated carbon dioxide emissions, and to investigate scope for its improvement. A computational model is developed and validated against existing data and simulations are carried out to estimate the energy consumption of a modern, European high speed train, labelled the HS2 reference train, running on the UK's proposed High Speed Two (HS2) line between London and Birmingham. Investigations are conducted to quantify the effects of different parameters on the operational energy consumption of the line according to a defined Key Performance Indicator. Comparisons are made with the car and domestic air in terms of primary energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and journey time. Further simulations are conducted of a Class 390 'Pendolino' train running on the existing West Coast Main Line route between London and Birmingham and comparisons are made with the HS2 reference train, again with reference to the Key Performance Indicator and journey time. In the final part of the thesis simulations are carried out of three different vehicle types running on the HS2 route, which could be considered as alternatives to the HS2 reference train. Analysis is undertaken to determine key areas of vehicle design which contribute to the minimizing of the operational energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of high speed rail

"Charge while driving" for electric vehicles: road traffic modeling and energy assessment

The aim of this research study is to present a method for analyzing the performance of the wireless inductive charge-while-driving (CWD) electric vehicles, from both traffic and energy points of view. To accurately quantify the electric power required from an energy supplier for the proper management of the charging system, a traffic simulation model is implemented. This model is based on a mesoscopic approach, and it is applied to a freight distribution scenario. Lane changing and positioning are managed according to a cooperative system among vehicles and supported by advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). From the energy point of view, the analyses indicate that the traffic may have the following effects on the energy of the system: in a low traffic level scenario, the maximum power that should be supplied for the entire road is simulated at approximately 9 MW; and in a high level traffic scenario with lower average speeds, the maximum power required by the vehicles in the charging lane increases by more than 50 %