Railway smart grids: Drivers, benefits and challenges

Abstract

Smart grids are considered to be the ‘next generation’ of electricity supply systems, capable of increasing supply reliability, availability and energy efficiency through the use of information and communication technologies. Despite these advantages, however, the development of smart grids in rail has lagged behind the domestic sector and other industries, only recently becoming a focus of the future railway. Generally speaking, the technologies suitable for railway smart grids are already being used in other sectors, but the unique socio-political and technological environment of rail makes their implementation challenging. This review explores smart grids in the rail context, focusing on the specific drivers, benefits and challenges for the development of railway smart grids. The necessity of rail as a future transport mode is highlighted, before the following drivers and their related benefits are explored: fossil-fuel reliance, supply reliability, customer participation and the nature of rail traction demand. Finally, the railway power supply system is described and a simple railway smart grid architecture introduced before seven technical challenges are presented against the rail background. These are: interfacing new equipment, electromagnetic compatibility, developing communications, distributed generation, cybersecurity, data and standardisation and regulation. It is hoped that this review will stimulate discussion in the field of railway smart grids and direct research into addressing the railway specific challenges hindering smart grid implementation.

MVDC Railway Traction Power Systems; State-of-the Art, Opportunities, and Challenges

“…This massive railway infrastructure with distributed loads (trains, EVs, urban and rural residents) sources (distributed RESs) and ESSs necessitates the application of smart grid (SG) principles, as in [37]. The smart MVDC TPS concept can provide greater energy and cost savings as well as reduced supply uncertainties due to highly level local and global optimization [13].…”

“…In this way, the railway network operator can sell power to other consumers during low rail traffic and excess RES generation. Many more opportunities for prospective railway smart grid infrastructure are reviewed in [13,14]. Therefore, this paper outlines the MVDC TPS as the state-of-the art electric railway infrastructure, and explores opportunities at the component, converter and system levels as a converter-based system, and related challenges.…”

eMaintenance in railways: Issues and challenges in cybersecurity

“…For example, any type of cyber-attack on power supply, mobile units (rolling-stock system), communication systems, and communication network could cause power outages, compromise safety, affect operations and maintenance, and damage infrastructure. [64][65][66] Steele et al 67 noted the need to protect smart grids and railways from cyber threats.…”

Mathematical Models of Effective Topology of Computer Networks for Electric Power Supply Control on Railway Transport

“…The concept of intelligent energetics has opened wide opportunities to conduct real-time synchronous vector measurements of the whole set of mode parameters in different points and segments of the distributed power system with rigid association to astronomical time and accuracy to several hundred nanoseconds, to implement direct observation of the dynamic characteristics of the power system, to calculate the coefficients of low-frequency oscillations, as well as to assess the level of instability risk. Monitoring of operating conditions of traction power systems may be achieved by combining controlled reactive power sources, energy storage systems, active harmonic conditioners and distributed generators [4][5][6][7][8][9]. The work [2] indicates to importance to conduct the dependability analysis for contemporary complex systems.…”

“…intelligent power supply network could be presented as a multidimensional object [3]. Modern intelligent means of computer analysis of primary acquired information provide an opportunity to investigate the fast-moving technological processes occurring in the power supply network, to determine in the rate of electric power supply properties and dynamic characteristics at a totally new level, to identify sources of low-frequency oscillations, types and features of their shape and places of occurring, characteristics of abnormal modes, as well as to determine the limit of the current power system stability [7][8][9][10][11][12]. European Commission has published a nearly 50-page-long document on cybersecurity in transport called the Transport cybersecurity toolkit [12].…”