Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Review

Electrical railway power supply systems: Current situation and future

trends
D. Serrano-Jiménez a,⇑, L. Abrahamsson b, S. Castaño-Solís c, J. Sanz-Feito a
a
Carlos III University of Madrid, Av. de la Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Spain
b
Luleå University of Technology, Forskargatan 1, 931 62 Skellefteå, Sweden
c
ETSIDI – Technical University de Madrid, Ronda de Valencia 3, 28013 Madrid, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Railway electrification is experiencing a very important transformation process today. The need of
Received 19 October 2016 increasing its capacity has evidenced the drawbacks of conventional systems of dealing with the higher
Received in revised form 23 March 2017 power required, whilst maintaining reasonable costs. Furthermore, the current trend undertaken by elec-
Accepted 10 May 2017
trical systems towards smarter grids involves to rethink carefully the direction of evolution of these sys-
tems. However, the different technical progress at the time of railway electrification, and the particular
historical and economic characteristics of the countries, have led to a great variety of configurations that
Keywords:
require different solutions. The first main objective of this article is to classify and describe the principal
Electrical railway power supply system
(ERPSS)
electrical railway power supply systems existing and the most important proposals for their improve-
Transformer-based ERPSS ment found in the literature. The second main objective is to make a comparison of all presented systems
Converter-based ERPSS based on economic and technical criteria capable of assessing their suitability and future projection. The
Balanced transformers right choice of the feeding system is decisive for the development of more competitive, efficient and reli-
Converter conditioner able railway systems.
Advanced AC converter-based ERPSS Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Advanced DC converter-based ERPSS

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
2. Transformer-based ERPSS’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
2.1. Conventional configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
2.2. Balanced transformers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
2.3. Converter compensators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
2.3.1. SVC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
2.3.2. STATCOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
2.3.3. Railway power conditioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
2.3.4. Co-phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
3. Converter-based ERPSS’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
3.1. Conventional and advanced AC systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
3.2. Conventional and advanced DC systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
4. Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
5. Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Serrano-Jiménez).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2017.05.008
0142-0615/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
182 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

1. Introduction necessary to make a short description of their principal elements.

An ERPSS is defined as the set of elements necessary to feed the
The current transportation system proves to be unsustainable trains ensuring their proper operation [9]. From the electrical
[1] from the environmental, social and economic point of view. power engineering perspective, ERPSS’s can be divided into three
Among land-based means of transport, electrical railway is per- main systems: the electrical system, the traffic system and the con-
haps the most efficient, cleanest and safest of all. These features trol system. The railway system is the central element of the elec-
make it one of the key elements in the future transportation sys- trical system and it can be divided into the traction substations, the
tems [2]. railway transmission grid when applicable, the generators and
The progress of electrical railway power supply systems storage systems when existing and the catenary. It is important
(ERPSS’s) have been always much related to the technological to highlight that the term catenary used in this paper embodies
advance available at the time. At the dawn of railway electrifica- the catenary itself (contact and messenger conductors), the posi-
tion, the utility grids were smaller and weaker than today, and tive and negative feeders where applicable, the rails, and the pos-
the use of large motors at the industrial frequency presented a sible return lines.
lot of inconveniences. All this led to the development of the direct The railway system can have two main topologies: centralized
current (DC) and the single phase low frequency alternating cur- and decentralized [10]. As shown in Fig. 1, in the centralized sys-
rent (AC) dedicated systems as the best possible solutions. tems, the catenary is connected by an intermediate railway trans-
With the subsequent progress of the utility grid and the tech- mission grid that is fed from dedicated railway power plants and/
nology developments achieved in the electric motors field, the or the utility grid, whereas in the decentralized systems the cate-
AC railway systems directly fed by power transformers were pos- nary is directly connected to the utility grid.
sible. As a result of this evolution process, there exist five main The centralized systems emerged at the beginning of railway
electrification schemes at the moment: 750 V DC, 1500 V DC, electrification due to the necessity of dedicated reduced frequency
3000 V DC, 15/11 kV 16⅔/25 Hz and 25 kV 50/60 Hz. A good generation. However, with the subsequent development of power
review of their geographical distribution throughout Europe can converters, the decentralized systems have become the dominant
be found in [3]. topology today with the exception of the countries of Germany,
The steadily increase in traffic density and velocity in railway Austria and Switzerland where the centralized topology was
lines has evidenced the drawbacks of conventional ERPSS’s of deal- strongly deployed at earlier times. It is important to highlight that
ing with the higher power demanded whilst maintaining good decentralized systems can also have the possibility of including a
power quality ratios. Furthermore, today’s increased interest in railway transmission grid in parallel with the catenary or having
reliability and cost effectiveness drive for an active power control generation or storage systems directly or indirectly connected to
capable of managing the power flow between the utility grid, the the catenary [11].
railway grid and the possible storage systems [4] with respect to Finally, the traffic and control systems are found. The traffic sys-
economic and technical constraints. tem is constituted by the trains that consume or inject power
In this situation, electrical railway engineers face the compli- depending on their movement, whilst the control system is in
cated challenge of developing appropriate ERPSS’s. The importance charge of guaranteeing a reliable, efficient and economical opera-
of defining a global common direction of evolution is very high tion of the electrical and the traffic systems.
because it favors the standardization; the key point to reach eco- The subsequent sections are organized as follows. The second
nomics of scales and improving the interoperability. Fortunately, section addresses the transformer-based ERPSS’s, from its simplest
the outstanding development of power electronics during the last form to the most recent proposals. The third section is devoted to
years and the initiated evolution of electrical systems towards the conventional and advanced converter-based ERPSS’s. The
smart grids [5,6] have alleviated this situation showing the way. fourth section presents a thorough analysis and a comparison of
All the above reasons motive a comprehensive review compar- the previous solutions attending to economic and technical crite-
ing currently ERPSS’s and their future trends of development. ria. Finally, in the fifth section, the main conclusions drawn from
Although there are some other good reviews in literature, they the paper are described.
are usually focused on very specific issues, like power quality con-
cerns [7], or do not present intermediate possible configurations 2. Transformer-based ERPSS’s
[8].
Railway systems are complex systems that involve and interlink As indicated in Section 1, the technological development pro-
many different fields of engineering. Therefore, it is considered moted the introduction of transformer-based ERPSS’s as a possible

Utility system Utility system

Transformer / Generation/ Transformer Traction Generation Traction

Converter Storage / Converter substation /Storage substation

Railway transmission grid Railway transmission grid

Traction Traction Traction

Transformer Transformer
substation substation substation
/ Converter / Converter
Railway Railway
Centralized Catenary Decentralized Catenary
System System

Traffic system Traffic system

Fig. 1. ERPSS’s configurations: centralized and decentralized.

 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192 183

Utility
Grid

Traction
substation

Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 2. Mono-voltage ERPSS.

Utility
Grid

Traction
substation

Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

Negative
Feeder Autotransformer

Fig. 3. Bi-voltage ERPSS.

solution for railway electrification. Due to their lower investment As shown in Fig. 3, the bi-voltage configuration uses two single
costs and their simpler operation, they became the most common phase 50 kV transformers with an earth connected secondary cen-
configuration in new railway lines. tral tap to feed the +25 kV catenary and the 25 kV feeder lines. To
reduce the transmission voltage from 50 kV to 25 kV, a distance
2.1. Conventional configurations dependent number of autotransformers are placed along the cate-
nary. Due to the use of autotransformers, this configuration is also
The simplest transformer-based configuration consists of two known as autotransformer (AT) feeding system.
25 kV single-phase transformers placed at each traction substation It should be noted that generally the negative feeder does not
connecting the catenary and the utility grid. As shown in Fig. 2, need to have the same voltage as the catenary and/or positive feed-
these two transformers are usually connected to different phases ers. A more detailed description of these two and other configura-
in order to reduce the power imbalance introduced in the grid. This tions of transformer-based ERRPS’s can be found in [12–14].
issue requires the installation of a neutral zone that divides the Transformed-based ERPSS’s is the dominant technology for new
catenary grid into electrical insulated sections. Because this phase railway lines at present, although they present strong drawbacks
shift is accomplished in all substations, this connection also from a power quality point of view. The main three issues are:
requires a neutral section between different substations. This sec- power imbalances, low power factor and harmonic distortion [15].
tioning represents an obstacle for an efficient use of the energy, Phase imbalances are perhaps the main power quality problem
since the trains can be only fed by one substation at the same time for railway engineers. They are produced because traction loads are
and reduce the possible use of regenerative braking energy among single phase loads fed from a three phase system. This issue causes
trains. a negative sequence current and involves the necessity of finding
The maximum section length is determined by the maximum electrical power supply systems with high enough short-circuit
voltage drop admissible in the catenary. In order to increase this power that can accept such power imbalance [16].
length, new configurations appeared. One of them is the so- Another significant power quality issue is the harmonics
called bi-voltage system since it uses two different voltages levels injection. Modern [17,18] as well as conventional railways locomo-
in contrast to the previous monovoltage one. tives, EMUs (Electrical Multiple Units) and auxiliary services are
184 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

Scott Le-Blanc
A B C
A B C

0.5N1 0.5N 1 1.73N1 N1 N1 N1

0.56N2
0.33N2

0.33N2

0.56N2
0.67N 2
N2 N2
a a´ b b´
a b a´ b´
Impedance matching Woodbridge
A B C A B C

N1 N1 N1
N1 N1 N1

N2 N2 N2 N2 N2 N2
N2 N2 N2
0.36N2
0.36N2

a´ b´ N3 N 3 N3

a b b b´
a a´

Fig. 4. Balanced transformer connections.

common important harmonics sources in railway systems that can are equally loaded. Furthermore, the fact that they usually present
lead to voltage distortion. As [19] describes, this problem can even complex configurations with unequal number of turns on each
be worsened by possible resonances that amplifies the harmonics limb can lead to a non-perfect balanced situation even when the
levels. secondary systems are equally loaded because of the unlikelihood
Finally, as well as the aforementioned power quality concerns, that the internal impedances of each phase were equal.
the influence of electromagnetic emissions constitutes another Many papers have studied the voltage imbalance under various
important factor to consider. In [20,21], the effect of the railway load conditions [27–30]. Authors in [31,32] show a special interest
electrification configuration on the signaling and telecommunica- on the load power factor and its definition. However, as described
tion systems is extendedly studied. in [33], the use of simple formulas can lead to underestimate its
real impact since they neglect the interaction between the railway
2.2. Balanced transformers systems and the electrical system. Regarding harmonics pollution,
balanced transformers can represent an interesting option since
Balanced transformers are the main solution for enhancing the they can lead to some harmonics cancellation due to their special
power quality concerns of transformer-based RPSS’s without using connections [34].
power electronics devices. A simple definition of a balanced trans- Another important factor in the selection of a balanced trans-
former is a specially connected power transformer capable of pro- former is the material utilization factor. It is noteworthy that the
ducing an n-phase balanced system from an m-phase balanced required investment cost for network construction decreases sig-
system. nificantly as the utilization factor increases.
In railways systems, the three phase to two phase balanced Each transformer configuration described has its advantages
transformer is the most convenient. There exists a great number and disadvantages with regard to the aforementioned factors. In
of ways of obtaining two phases from three phases, but not all of [35] a comparison between them is made according to their tech-
them are balanced. A balanced connection firstly requires having nical performance and cost. It concludes that although balanced
a balanced set of electromotive forces in both sides and secondly transformers have a higher cost, they require less power compen-
a balanced set of magnetomotive forces on each limb of the trans- sating capacity resulting in a lower total investment.
former. A comprehensive theory about phase transformation can
be found in [22]. 2.3. Converter compensators
The four most used schemes are: Scott, Le-Blanc, Impedance
matching and Woodbridge connections [23,24]. However, there Power electronics has brought new possibilities in many fields
exist other interesting proposals in literature [25,26]. In Fig. 4, a including electrical transportation systems [36–38] and renewable
description of the four previous configuration connections is energy grid integration [39]. The use of power electronics convert-
shown. ers allows eliminating or, at least, reducing the main power quality
It is important to highlight that balanced transformers only pro- concerns found in traditional configurations. There exist a great
duce balanced three phase loads when the two secondary phases number of papers presented in the literature that consider power
 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192 185

Utility
Grid

Traction
AC AC
substation
STATCOM
DC DC

Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 5. STATCOM based ERPSS.

converters in their approaches. The most important are described the line [43,44]. It is important to take into account the possible
below. resonances between the SVC and the system [45].
Compared to other power electronic based systems, SVC based
solution has a less satisfactory performance that limits its use sig-
2.3.1. SVC nificantly. However, it is still a good option when reduced costs
The static VAR compensator (SVC) is probably one of the most and simple controls are needed.
widely used electronic power devices. Basically, an SVC is a device
that provides variable impedance by combining fixed impedances
with controllable impedances. Depending on the type of the con- 2.3.2. STATCOM
trollable impedance, they are classified as either TCR if it is a reac- Static synchronous compensators (STATCOM’s) can be seen as
tor or TCS if it is a capacitor [40]. an evolution of the SVC’s that incorporates self-commutated
SVC’s can be installed either in the utility system side or in the switches. They are well known devices broadly used in the electri-
railway system side, although for negative sequence current com- cal systems. In contrast to SVC’s, STATCOM’s can simultaneously
pensation the first option is usually preferred due to its simple con- solve the problems of harmonics, negative sequence current and
trol. The control techniques for a load balancing performance are reactive compensation due the additional grade of freedom intro-
based on Steinmetz circuit. In [41] an SVC with fixed capacitance duced by the self-commutated devices [46]. In Fig. 5, the system
plus thyristor controlled reactance is applied. Another interesting configuration is shown.
configuration is found in [42]. It merges the potential of balanced For the reactive power compensation, the STATCOM can be
transformer with the SVC functionalities. placed at the end of each electrical section. In [47,48] this solution
Besides performing load balancing, SVC’s can also be used for is analysed. Like SVC, the main drawback of the STATCOM derives
compensating the reactive power and maintaining the voltage in from the bulky capacitors required on the DC bus.

Utility
Grid

Traction
substation
Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

AC DC AC
DC
AC DC AC DC

Fig. 6. Railway power conditioner based ERPSS.

186 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

Utility
Grid

Traction
substation
Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

Railway
power
conditioner
AC AC

DC DC

Fig. 7. Three phase railway power conditioner based ERPSS.

2.3.3. Railway power conditioner shown in Fig. 7. The amount of power compensation capacity
Another railway power supply solution presented in the litera- required can be reduced using a balanced transformer and a pas-
ture is the so-called railway power conditioner. In its simplest sive filter as it is demonstrated in [55].
form, it consists of two single phase converters with a common Many control solutions have been proposed in literature for the
DC link in back-to-back configuration. Each inverter is connected railway power conditioner based system [56–59]. They are highly
to a different catenary section in the secondary side [49–51]. This effective in solving the power quality concerns, even under dis-
system configuration is shown in Fig. 6. torted grid conditions.
The converter usually uses full bridge configuration, although
there are proposals based on half bridge [52] that allow to halve 2.3.4. Co-phase
the number of switches. Both approaches can simultaneously solve So far, all RPSSs presented make use of two phase feeding con-
the problems of imbalance, harmonics and reactive power. nections that implies the necessity of installing neutral zones
Another proposal is found in [53,54] where the two single phase between these two phases and between phases of the adjoining
converters are replaced by a three phase converter, reducing the traction substations. Neutral zones represent a great obstacle for
number of connections and associated switches from eight to six. an efficient energy management and a more reliable operation of
However, this involves connecting two separated sections as it is the high speed ERPSS’s [60].

Utility
Grid

Traction
substation

AC AC
DC DC

Co-phase DC Hybrid co-phase DC

conditioner AC conditioner AC

Catenary
+ Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 8. Co-phase & Hybrid Co-phase based ERPSS.

 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192 187

The co-phase railway supply system is a technical solution that 3.1. Conventional and advanced AC systems
can partially solve this problem [61–63]. It consists of a three
phase to two phase transformer, where one of the secondary As it was described in the introduction, the difficulties of AC
phases is directly connected to the catenary while the other is con- motors to work with large loads at the industrial frequency led
nected to a single phase back-to-back converter. Finally, the con- to development of the 15 kV 16⅔ Hz system. Conventional AC
verter is connected again to the catenary. converter-based systems connect the utility grid to the catenary
Compared to the previous systems, the co-phase system can by means of rotary or static converters.
reduce by half the number of neutral zones. It also eliminates the Rotary converters were the first to appear and they consist of a
negative sequence current and mitigates the harmonics. The trans- motor and a generator connected together with a common axis.
former used in the co-phase systems can be either a balanced Depending on the ratio existing between the number of poles of
transformer or a non-balanced transformer. In [64] a comparison the motor and the generator, different frequency conversion can
of the traction transformer type used in co-phase system is made be accomplished. A comprehensive description of rotary converters
and conclude that the modified Woodbridge is the best option. can be found in [68]. The main drawback of these solution is the
The possible modes of operation of a co-phase system can be higher losses, although their overload capacity is still today supe-
divided into three different modes: co-phase mode, single phase rior to the static converters one [69].
mode and over-zone mode. The co-phase mode is the normal sys- With the subsequent progress of power electronics, the static
tem operation where the energy is provided by the transformer converters have been gaining popularity and they are the most
and converter. The other two operation modes correspond to widespread at present. There exist two main conceptions for the
degraded conditions or in other words, the loss of the traction power conversion: direct or cyclo converters and PWM converters
transformer or the whole substation respectively. In this way, in with an intermediate DC link. The latter option is the most used
the single phase mode, only the converter feeds the catenary, while since they present a better stability and allow to reduce the num-
in the over-zone mode power is fed by both adjacent substations. ber of power switches used, one of the costly parts. In Fig. 9, a con-
Some published works that have focused on how to reduce the ventional AC converter-based RPSS is shown.
converter size and its associated cost propose the use of fixed The voltage in the catenary can be reached by the series connec-
inductors and capacitors [65–67]. This approach is known as tion of two level converters with high power switches or with mul-
hybrid co-phase system. Fig. 8 shows the configuration of co- tilevel technologies with mature medium power switches [70]. The
phase and a hybrid co-phase system respectively. better signal output obtained in the latter approach allows to
reduce the size of filters required converting it into a more attrac-
3. Converter-based ERPSS’s tive option. Among multilevel configurations are: neutral-point
clamped [71], floating capacitor [72], cascaded H-bridges [73]
Converter-based ERPSS’s constitute the second type of railway and modular [74,75].
electrification. So far, their investment costs restricted their use Because of the increase in the voltage capability of power elec-
on new power demanding railway lines. However, with the out- tronic switches, new ERPSS’s with higher catenary voltage have
standing development in power electronics, this situation has been proposed in literature. One of them is the so-called advanced
changed significantly becoming not only a possible option, but also converter-based system [76–78], consisting of a three-phase to
advantageous in many cases because of the particular characteris- single-phase converter connected to the 25 kV AC catenary and
tics and additional functionalities they present. Depending on the the utility grid via transformers as it can be seen in Fig. 10.
type of transformation carried out, two main systems can be dis- According to [79], the three most costly parts of these convert-
tinguished: AC systems and DC systems. ers systems are equally divided into the two transformers and the

Utility Grid

AC
Traction substation DC Traction substation Generator
Static converter Rotatory converter

DC Motor
AC

Catenary +
Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 9. Traditional AC converter-based ERPSS.

188 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

Utility Grid

AC AC AC
Traction substation DC DC DC
Static converter

DC DC DC
AC AC AC

Catenary +
Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 10. Advanced AC converter-based ERPSS.

Utility Grid

Traction substation
converter
AC AC AC
DC DC DC
Catenary +
Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 11. Conventional DC converter-based ERPSS.

converter. So that, new technologies without the use of transform- controllability is perhaps the most important. It means that each
ers can make this approach more attractive. Furthermore, the use traction substation can adapt its own consumption as long as they
of lower frequencies could also be advantageous because of the maintain the power balancing in the railway grid. The advantages
lower losses in the catenary, although it is also true that they of this improvement in controllability are really important. It can
require heavier transformers on board the train. help to enhance the electrical grid reliability avoiding possible line
Because each single-phase converter controls its output voltage congestions or controlling the power flow considering economic
automatically, including frequency, phase and magnitude, all cate- criteria.
nary sections can be connected eliminating the necessity for neu- Other applications could be providing voltage support to the
tral sections increasing significantly the efficiency of the system. grid or improving the transient stability of the utility grid by inject-
Meanwhile, the converters could also compensate the reactive ing active power. All these advanced functionalities makes possible
power, harmonics and negative sequence current produced by the transformation of the current passive railway grid into an
the railway traffic. At the moment, different people are working active smart grid [82].
on the best way of controlling this type of systems. Due to their Although the converters investment seems to be high, the sav-
similarities with AC microgrids [80,81], most of the research car- ings in other parts of the electrical infrastructure can also be
ried out in this field can be also applied to these system. important. For example, avoiding power imbalances in the grid,
As it was mentioned before, although converter-based firstly combined with the possibility of limiting the maximal load in each
emerged as a necessity, they can become an opportunity because point of connection, allow the connection to utility grids with
of the additional functionalities introduced by the new converters. lower short circuit power. However, even in the presence of nearby
Among all the functionalities provided by these systems, the power high short circuit power grids, AC converter-based systems can be
 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192 189

Table 1 age in the current railways lines and proposed possible migrations
Power switching devices comparison [84]. strategies. However, the cost of the system has always made it to
Technology GTO IGCT IGBT be abandoned.
Self-commutation ability No Yes Yes The recent developments achieved in the VSC-HVDC technology
Maximum voltage rating 4500 V 6500 V 6500 V have reopened the debate about the suitability of DC electrification
Maximum current rating 4000 A 5000 A 3600 A for high demanded railway applications. For example [88] pro-
Maximum switching frequency 500 Hz 600 Hz 1000 Hz poses to replace the current transformer-based systems used for
Switching losses High Medium Low
Conduction losses Medium Low High
high speed train lines with modern static converters. This concep-
tion is very similar to the advanced AC converter-based systems
but allows to reduce the number of converters since it do not
require the AC final conversion. Fig. 12 shows the configuration
competitive due to the reduction in the number of substations
of an advanced DC monovoltage converter-based ERPSS.
required and its more efficient use of the energy because of the
As in the case of AC systems, DC systems can also present a bi-
non-sectioning catenary.
voltage configuration. In order to achieve it, a variable distance
Finally, it is important to highlight that there exist other less
dependent number of DC/DC converters must be placed along
radical approaches to carry out this change of paradigm. For exam-
the catenary to redistribute the current between the feeder lines
ple, [83] proposes to complement the conventional railway
and a voltage balancer included in the AC/DC converter to guaran-
transformer-based ERPSS’s with additional electronic power con-
tee a balanced DC voltage operation [89]. Fig. 13 shows a bi-voltage
verters connected between adjacent electrical sections and allow-
DC converter-based RPSS.
ing to exchange energy between them. The main disadvantage of
The use of direct current in the railway grid allow to decrease
this proposal is that it keeps unsolved some of the power quality
significantly the power transmission losses and increasing the dis-
problems found in traditional configurations.
tance between traction substations, thus reducing the cost of the
system. Besides, the possibility of a bidirectional power flow can
3.2. Conventional and advanced DC systems make them advantageous even for typical DC railway systems volt-
ages [90].
DC converter-based ERPSS’s have been traditionally very lim- However, there are also some drawbacks. One of the most
ited to high power demanding applications. In their conventional important and which is inherent to all DC grids is the clearance
configurations they consist of a 6 or 12 pulse bridge rectifier con- of the DC faults. There exist essentially two ways of doing that:
nected to the grid via a standard three phase transformer or a three using DC breakers or using advanced converting topologies
phase transformer with two secondary windings respectively. [91,92]. Although it is a topic under research at present, noticeable
Fig. 11 shows the conventional configuration of a DC converter- improvements are been accomplished. Furthermore, the
based ERPSS including these two approaches. smaller amount of energy exchanged in the railway systems
The limitation of the use of DC in railway systems is due to the simplifies the problem dramatically. Another important issue is
low voltage levels accomplished so far, not because of the DC itself. the need of the development of new rolling stock or converting
Increasing the catenary voltage has been always limited by the the existing.
blocking voltage of the semiconductors. However, the impressive
development of electronic switches, like, GTO, IGBT or IGCT has
brought new possibilities that allow working at higher voltages 4. Discussion
without great difficulties as it is shown in Table 1.
The higher power that converters have to transmit in compar- The right choice of the ERPSS is a decisive factor for the devel-
ison to the converter conditioners previously described, makes opment of more competitive, efficient and reliable railway sys-
the IGCT the best option since its lower conduction losses. On tems. As discussed before, there exist two main electrification
the other hand, the IGBT is the dominant technology for power schemes: transformer-based and converter-based. Table 2 pro-
conditioning. vides the main information about all presented ERPSS’s divided
The idea of increasing the DC voltage is not new [85]. Some into three main components: utility system, railway system and
studies [86,87] have addressed the benefits of increasing the volt- traffic system.

Utility Grid

Traction substation
Static converter
AC AC AC
DC DC DC
Catenary +
Optional feeder

Rails

Fig. 12. Advanced DC monovoltage converter-based ERPSS.

190 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192

Traction substation

AC AC
DC DC
Catenary +
Static converter
Optional feeder

DC DC DC DC
DC DC DC DC

Rails

Negative feeder

Fig. 13. Advanced DC bi-voltage converter-based ERPSS.

Table 2
ERPSS’s comparison.

Voltage, Utility system Railway system Traffic system

frequency
Transformer- Conventional 25.000 V 50/ Strong utility grid connections. Medium Simple traction substation. Simple circuit Heavy rolling
based 60 Hz number of connections breakers. Neutral zones. Light catenary stock
Balanced 25.000 V 50/ High-Medium utility grids connections. Complex transformer. Simple circuit breakers. Heavy rolling
transformers 60 Hz Medium number of connections Neutral zones. Light catenary stock
Power 25.000 V 50/ Possible connection to weaker utility Converter complexity and reliability. Simple Heavy rolling
conditioners 60 Hz grids. Medium number of connections circuit breakers. Neutral zones. Light catenary stock
Converter- AC 15.000/11.000 Possible connection to weaker utility Converter complexity and reliability. Simple Very heavy
based Conventional V 16⅔/25 Hz grids. Medium number of connections circuit breakers. No neutral zones. Light rolling stock
catenary
AC Advanced 25.000 V 50/ Possible connection to weaker utility Converter complexity and reliability. Simple Heavy rolling
60 Hz grids. Reduced number of connections circuit breakers. No neutral zones. Light catenary stock
DC 750/1500/ Possible connection to weaker utility Converter complexity and reliability Complex Light rolling
Conventional 3000 V 0 Hz grids. High number of connections circuit breakers. No neutral zones. Heavy stock
catenary
DC Advanced 25.000 V 0 Hz Possible connection to weaker utility Converter complexity and reliability. Complex Need of rolling
grids. Very reduced number of circuit breakers. No neutral zones. Light catenary stock
connections development

Transformer-based systems represent the most widespread However, above all these characteristics, it is important to high-
option for new railway electrification because of their lower light that transformer-based ERPSS’s do not allow to control the
investment costs and simpler operation. However, they present power flow and so that they do not contribute to the necessary
many power quality concerns that can increase their costs signifi- transformation of railway systems into the desired smart railway
cantly. For example, a high power imbalance involves the connec- grid.
tion to stronger grids, which often may be located far from the In comparison to transformer-based systems, advanced con-
railway lines. verter–based systems are more efficient because they do not pre-
In order to alleviate these drawbacks, two main solutions are sent neutral zones allowing to reduce the voltage drops and the
found in literature: balanced transformers and power conditioners. number of substations. Additionally, converters significantly reduce
Balanced transformers are in general more economical than power the power quality issues enabling the connection to weaker grids.
conditioners but their performance is less satisfactory. The neces- Depending on the transformation provided by the converter, AC
sity of having the two sections equally loaded reduces its use to and DC systems can be distinguished. The lower losses and the
railway lines with high traffic density. easier control make the DC advanced converter-based approach
On the other hand, power conditioners present a better perfor- very attractive. However, there are still some doubts about the
mance but their cost are still high with regard to the functionalities fault clearance and the necessity of development or adaptation of
provided. There are some interesting proposals in literature like the rolling stock that makes AC system a more realistic option at
the co-phase system that allows to increase their performance con- present. It is important to highlight that neither AC or DC advanced
siderably because of the reduction in the number of neutral zones.
 D. Serrano-Jiménez et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 92 (2017) 181–192 191

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