Page 27 - Innovation in energy management: contribution of railways to sustainable mobility

R.11. Promote the on board electrical energy storage

Investment: Nature: Improvement:

Related to:
R.16

On board storage of energy on the vehicle continues to be presented as one of the main
improvements in the energy management of the railway system. Like applications on the
ground, technologies are numerous and continue to be developed, with electrochemical
storage being the most used and best placed for the coming years. The aim is to optimise
the duration of the charge and the number of life cycles of the battery. Lithium and
titanium batteries are a significant improvement over lithium ion batteries.

While ground infrastructure storage has a clear positive effect on the electrical stability
of the system, in the case of rolling stock it can bring definite improvements in safety, for
example, moving the train in the event of a supply fault. This functionality has already
been used in urban rolling stock, in some cases also for the transition of the vehicle
through areas that do not have a transmission line.

It is of special interest to review the solution implemented in the EMU N700S of the
Japanese railway (JR Central), in service since the summer of 2020. This train is the first
high-speed train equipped with this technology, which allows it to self-propel in case of
interrupted transmission line current. The system is fitted to four of the sixteen cars on
the train and is based on lithium-ion batteries.

On the other hand, it should also be noted that among the EU-Rail JU initiatives is the
development of a new generation of vehicles powered specifically by batteries (BEMUS)
that, at specific points along the route, would be charged in the same way as electric road
vehicles.

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Position paper: Innovation in energy management: contribution of railways to sustainable mobility
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