Study on Energy Efficiency of an Electrified Railway Line

Electrified railways represent one of the most sustainable means of transportation, especially when considering the adoption of Regenerative Substations (RSSs). However, power distribution and collection along these lines involve high investments, heavy maintenance costs and energy losses justified only by high traffic intensities. Also, the construction of overhead lines implies an impact that should not be compatible with constraints imposed by historically or environmentally sensitive sites. In this work, a power line model is proposed and coupled with a previously developed railway model, considering different substation scenarios, conductor sections, and train configurations to evaluate the energy efficiency within a case-study mission profile. The simulation results will help evaluate the effectiveness of extensive line electrification investments.