The electric traction systems deliver the necessary energy for the railway transport, not only for urban rail transport but also for the long-distance railway transport, ensuring the proper functioning of operations in an environmentally-friendly manner.
To reduce negative effects on air quality and climate changes, the railway network electrification is one of the most effective methods of eliminating these consequences and, in addition, the electrification contributes to the provision of a reliable, secure and performing transport. At the present moment, the railway transport is the only transport mode which responds positively to the needs of mobility and of reduction of negative effects on the environment. Compared to the air and road transport, which are extremely dependent on fossil fuels, the railway transport is the main transport mode which brings competitive advantages.
In the past years, the European policies have launched one of the biggest challenges in all fields: the implementation of dramatic measures in order to massively reduce oil dependency of the transport system, but without compromising the mobility (the transport depends on oil for 96% of the necessary energy and represents 90% of the increase of oil use at the global level). Under the circumstances, the railway sector is well prepared to respond to mobility demands and to develop a sustainable transport system, although, in contrast, the car segment tries to come up with solutions developing electrification concepts.
The energy consumption on freight and passenger transport has increased according to the mobility needs, placing a very high pressure on fossil fuels resources and on policies regarding the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. EU proposals to reduce emissions resulted from transport by over 60% until 2050 (compared to1990) will inevitably determine radical changes compared to the current tendencies, especially an intense approach regarding the use of electricity as a source of provision of transport operations.
The railway system is extremely efficient in terms of energy compared to the other transport modes: the energy consumption rate in the EU is 3% lower, due to control elements and systems and to the energy reuse. The main disadvantages of the electric traction are high costs for electrification and the vulnerability of the electric infrastructure especially of the catenary system. In order to stay competitive in terms of economy and to significantly reduce the effects over the environment, the railway sector must optimise its energy efficiency at the level of the infrastructure, rolling stock, by implementing intelligent systems which can control energy in relation to needs. The optimisation of the energy consumption on the electric infrastructure can be approached by developing intelligent networks, by which the energy is stored and reused according to the operations.
At the European level, the electric propulsion covers over 70% from the rolling stock fleet (according to the ERRAC study “Towards 2030 – Energy Roadmap for the European Railway sector”), and the European railway system is mainly electrified. According to the study, the evolution of the railway system shows an average reduction of the energy consumption at the world level.
It is obvious that the energy consumption depends on the configuration of the railway infrastructure, for which we must consider the energy consumption between the stations (reported to all provided facilities), the control of operations in accordance with rush hours and outside of rush hours, the tunnels and the ventilation system (minimising losses resulted from the rolling stock will prevent excessive temperature in the tunnel).
Controlling and optimising the energy consumption on auxiliary infrastructures may be performed at the level of control centres by a system of real-time energy management, which takes into consideration the energy consumption of the entire system, the market price of the energy and manages the energy provision in relation to operational constraints.
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