2015 IEEE 18th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems
An Energy-Efcient Operation Approach Based on the Utilization of
Regenerative Braking Energy among Trains
Erchao Chen, Bing Bu, Wenzhe Sun
Abstract With the rapid development of urban rail transit,
the problem of energy consumption is drawing more and more
attentions. Based on the utilization of regenerative braking
energy among trains, this paper studies the energy-efcient
operation method. We propose an utilization strategy of regen-
erative energy among trains. Based on the proposed strategy, we
set up the energy-saving model which optimizes the timetable
and speed prole of trains simultaneously. Based on the particle
swarm optimization algorithm, taking Beijing Yizhuang subway
line and Changping subway line as examples of short section
and long section for simulation, we verify the effectiveness of
the proposed method. It is showed that the energy consumption
of Yizhuang line and Changping line can be reduced by 3.2%
and 5.5%, respectively, through improving the utilization of
regenerative energy.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Urban rail transit has many advantages such as conve-
nience, safety and comfortability, etc. Furthermore, it plays
an important role in alleviating urban trafc congestion.
However, with the rapid development of urban rail trans-
portation, the problem of energy consumption is drawing
more and more attentions. Energy saving becomes a key
solution to the sustainable development of the rail transit. In
this paper, we research on the optimization of operating plan
to improve the utilization of regenerative braking energy, and
develop energy-efcient method for the urban rail transit.
The operating plan contains timetable and speed pro-
les, which can be divided into scheduling and control of
trains. The scheduling of trains involves the optimization of
timetable to properly arrange the time of trains arriving at
and leaving stations. Kraay et al. [1] set up a mixed integer
programming model, use heuristic and local search method
to minimize the delays and energy consumption of trains, to
optimize the arrival and departure time of trains. Nachtigall
et al. [2] propose an optimization model to minimize the
passenger waiting time. Ghoseiri et al. [3] study the degree of
passenger satisfaction, put forward the concept of passenger
travel time, build dual-goal programming model to minimize
the travel time and energy consumption. Li et al. [4] propose
a random walking trafc model to simulate the movement of
trains and solve the arrival and departure time of trains in
each station through using iterative rules. Li et al. [5] take
carbon emission into consideration, propose an optimized
This work was supported by Beijing Municipal Science and Technology
(contract no: D141100000814002), RCS2014ZT26, and by Beijing Key
Laboratory of Urban Rail Transit Automation and Control.
Erchao Chen ,Bing Bu and Wenzhe Sun are with State Key Laboratory
of Rail Trafc Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, P.R. China
bbu@bjtu.edu.cn
978-1-4673-6596-3/15 $31.00 2015 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ITSC.2015.419
model for train scheduling to reduce the energy consumption
and carbon emission.
Under the constraint of a planned timetable, there are
various options to control the speed of trains between two
adjacent stations. The research on energy-saving control of
trains is to nd a speed prole which consumes the minimum
energy within the limitation of the running time between
stations. Milroy [6] regards the tractive and braking force
as continuous control variables, builds the control model for
energy minimization. Wong et al. [7] try to nd the optimal
coasting point of trains to minimize the energy consumption.
Bochamikov et al. [8] research the relationship between the
coasting distance and the energy consumption of trains to
set up an energy-efcient control model. Li [9] considers the
impact of uncertain factors, establishes energy-saving model
based on the random optimization theory.
Recently, some researches have been developing on the
integration of scheduling and control of trains. Yang et al.
[10] propose an approach to optimized scheduling through
cooperating the tractions and brakes between adjacent trains
to improve the usage of regenerative braking energy. Ding
[11] designs the energy-efcient timetable from the perspec-
tives of the energy-saving of running trains in sections and
the utilization of regenerative braking energy. The utilization
of regenerative energy is improved through increasing the
overlapping time of tractions and brakes between adjacent
trains. In our previous work [12], we research the usage of
regenerative energy between adjacent trains and the adjust-
ment of delayed train. A dual-goal model to minimize both
the delay and energy consumption is setup. But there are
some limitations in the existing methods.
1) The usage of regenerative braking energy is just be-
tween two adjacent trains which limits the usage of regen-
erative energy.
2) The effect of the existing methods depends on the
length of sections and the intervals between adjacent trains.
3) Only the generation and utilization of regenerative
braking energy by the trains arriving at or leaving stations is
considered.
In this paper, we research on the method to improve the
usage of regenerative braking energy among trains both in
stations and sections. The timetable and the speed proles are
optimized simultaneously to globally minimize the energy
consumption of the whole system. The rest of this paper
is organized as follows. In Section II, we design the uti-
lization strategies of regenerative braking energy for short
sections and long sections, respectively. Objective function
and energy-saving system model are set up in Section III.
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In Section IV, we design the particle swarm optimization 
algorithm, use the parameters of Beijing Yizhuang and 

Changping subway lines in simulation to verify the proposed 


strategies for short section and long section, respectively.   
Finally, we conclude this work in Section V. 
 

 


II. T HE U TILIZATION S TRATEGY OF R EGENERATIVE

B RAKING E NERGY 

  
A. The Distinction of Short Section and Long Section 

 



 


We divide sections into short sections and long sections.
The classication is based on the control process of trains 

in the section. If the train can run across the section through   
a single traction control process, maximum acceleration, 

 



 


coasting and maximum braking, we regard it as a short
section. Otherwise, the section should be taken as a long Fig. 1. The utilization of regenerative braking energy among trains in short
section.
section. The proposed utilization strategy of regenerative
braking energy is as follows.
1) Unlike the existing works, which limit the utilization
of regenerative energy to adjacent trains, we consider the 

utilization of regenerative braking energy among multiple 

trains to improve the usage of regenerative energy.
2) Different strategies are designed for short and long sec-
tions, respectively. The performance of the proposed method
is independent of the length of sections and the intervals
between adjacent trains.
3) In our approach, except for the trains arriving at or leav-
ing stations, the trains in sections can also use regenerative
braking energy.
B. Strategy for Short Section
The most energy-efcient control method of trains in
short section is maximum traction, coasting and maximum
braking [6], which we called one time traction. On leaving
stations, the train accelerates with the maximum tractive
power until it reaches a specic speed. Then, the train
coasts. In approaching stations, the train decelerates with the
maximum braking force. We apply the one time traction
control method to the utilization of regenerative energy
among trains in short section. The utilization of regenerative
energy in short section is illustrated in Fig. 1.
There are three phases. In phase a, the regenerative
braking energy generated by the ith train can be used by
the (i + 1)th train. In phase b, the ith train can use the
regenerative energy of the (i + 2)th train for traction. The
(i + 2)th train can use the regenerative energy created by the
(i + 1)th train to speed up and leave the jth station in phase
c.
If there is no overlapping time of the tractions and brakes
between adjacent trains, other trains can also use the regener-
ative energy through scheduling. As it is illustrated in Fig. 2,
for the existing scheme, the regenerative energy produced by
the ith train can not be used by the (i+1)th train. Instead, the
regenerative energy will be wasted by the onboard resistor of
the ith train. Otherwise, it may do harm to the power supply
network. But in our approach, other trains can be scheduled,
the (i + 2)th train for example, to utilize the regenerative
braking energy of the ith train. By doing so, the usage of
2607





Fig. 2. The utilization of regenerative braking energy among trains in short
section.
regenerative energy is improved, the energy consumption of
the whole system can be reduced.
C. Strategy for Long Section
For long section, the one time traction control scheme
can not be used because of the limitations on the running
time in sections posed by scheduling. Here, we propose a
twice traction control strategy. The train accelerates to the
maximum allowed speed by the rst traction with the maxi-
mum tractive power. Then the train begins to coast. If there is
regenerative braking energy of other trains, the coasting train
can use the energy for the second traction. In this process,
if the speed of the train is below a predened lower limit
value and the regenerative energy is still unavailable, the
train uses the energy from the power network to accelerate.
If the speed limit is changed, and the train can not reduce
its velocity to below the speed limit through coasting, the
train brakes. The twice traction control strategy realizes
the utilization of regenerative energy by running trains in
sections, improves the usage of regenerative energy. The time
for the second traction of trains depends on the availabilities
of regenerative braking energy. If there are multiple trains can
use the regenerative energy, the closest train to the braking
  t4j : The duration time of the second coasting,

t5j : The duration of brake of trains,
hj : the departure interval between adjacent trains of the


   jth station,


 



 

 sj : the dwell time of trains in the jth station.
B. Objective Function

 The tractive energy of trains is composed of the energy
  


 



 

 from the power supply network and the regenerative energy.
The energy got from the power network, which we called net
energy consumption, is the difference between the tractive


   energy and the regenerative braking energy. The objective


 



 

 function is set up from two aspects. On the one hand, we
seek the best position for the train to begin coasting to
Fig. 3. The utilization of regenerative braking energy among trains in long reduce the tractive energy. On the other hand, we optimize
section.
the overlapping time of tractions and brakes among trains to
improve the usage of regenerative braking energy.

 The time for a train to switch its working conditions is
calculated as the following.
1
i,j = i,j + t1j ,


2


 i,j = i,j + t1j + t2j ,
3 2
i,j = i,j + t3j ,
4 3
i,j = i,j + t4j ,
5 4
 i,j = i,j + t5j , (1)
0i, j 1i, j 2i, j i,3 j i,4 j 5i, j
where i,j is the departure time of the ith train from the jth
1
Fig. 4. The utilization of regenerative braking energy among trains in long station, i,j is the time of the train changing from the rst
section. 2
traction to the rst coasting in the jth section, i,j is the
3
ending time of the trains rst coasting, i,j is the time of
the train changing from the second traction to the second
one has priority over others to use the energy. 4
coasting, i,j is the time of the train changing from the
The utilization of regenerative braking energy in long 5
second coasting to braking, and i,j is the time of the train
section is depicted in Fig. 3. The process is divided into ending braking and arriving at the (j + 1)th station.
three phases. In phase a, the (i + 1)th and (i + 2)th trains Based on the kinematic equations, the speed/time prole
can use the regenerative energy generated by the ith train. of a train is
In phase b, the regenerative energy created by the (i + 2)th t
train can be used by the (i+1)th and ith trains. The (i+2)th vi,j (t) = 5
ai,j ( )d, i,j t < i,j , (2)
and ith trains can use the regenerative energy of the (i+1)th
i,j
train in phase c.
It is shown in Fig. 4, two trains run in a long section. where ai,j ( ) is the acceleration of the train.
4
At the moment i,j , the ith train begins to brake. In the The tractive energy is
mean time, the (i + 1)th train is running in the section.
qi,j (t1 , t2 ) =
For the existing method, the (i + 1)th train can not use the t
2
regenerative braking energy of the ith train. Through using
1
the proposed twice tractions control method, the (i + 1)th F vi,j ( )d, t1 < t2 ,
1 (3)
train can use the regenerative energy of the ith train from

4 5 t1
i,j to i,j for the second traction. 0, t1 t2 ,
III. S YSTEM M ODEL where is the loss rate in converting electrical energy into
kinetic energy, [0, 1], and F is the maximum tractive
A. Parameters and Variables
force.
The parameters and variables of the system model are The energy for the rst and the second traction are qi,j 1
=
dened as follows. 1 2 2 3
qi,j (i,j , i,j ) and qi,j = qi,j (i,j , i,j ), respectively.
t1j : The duration of the rst traction of trains running from For long sections, the total tractive energy is the sum of
the jth station to the (j + 1)th station, the energy for the rst and the second traction.
t2j : The time duration of the rst coasting,
1 2
t3j : The time duration of the second traction, qi,j = qi,j + qi,j . (4)

2608
 For short sections, there is no energy needed for the second C. Energy-saving Model
traction, the second part of (4) is zero. Based on the analysis of objective function, we set up the
The total tractive energy of all the running trains is energy-saving model.

n 
m
min E(t1j , t2j , t3j , t4j , t5j , hj , sj ),
Q= qi,j . (5)


s.t. t1j + t2j + t3j + t4j + t5j tjmin ,
i=1 j=1


l j s j j ,
When a train brakes and produces regenerative energy, hj rmin , (10)
the accelerating trains in the same power supply section can


 tj
use the regenerative energy for traction. Through scheduling


Sj = vi,j (t)dt,
to cooperate the tractions and brakes among trains, increase
0
the ovrlapping time of tractions and brakes, the usage of
regenerative braking energy can be improved. where tjmin is the minimum travelling time in the jth section,
The regenerative braking energy is lj and j are the minimum and maximum dwell time of
trains in the jth station, respectively. The minimum safe
ri,j (t1 , t2 ) = interval between adjacent tracking trains is designated as
t
2 rmin , Sj is the length of the jth section.

1
Bvi,j ( )d, t1 < t2 ,
1 (6) IV. S IMULATION AND D ISCUSSION


t1 A. Design of Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm
0, t1 t2 ,
We design a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm
where is the loss rate in conversion of kinetic energy
to nd the globally optimal solution of the energy-saving
into regenerative energy, and B is the force of full service
model. The procedure of the algorithm is as follows.
braking.
Step 1: To set the population size and the maximum
The regenerative braking energy in total is ri,j =
4 5 generations, and create the initial population. The population
ri,j (i,j , i,j ).
size is N = 30, and the maximum generations is G = 50.
The overlapping time interval that the regenerative energy
Step 2: To calculate the tness value of each individual.
can be used is

Since the goal is to minimize the net energy consumption,
k,l 4 5 1
Ii,j = i,j < t < i,j k,l < t < k,l we design the tness function as the difference between the
 objective function and a large enough constant value.
4 5 2 3
i,j < t < i,j k,l < t < k,l , (7) Step 3: To update the historical optimal value of each
particle and the optimal value of the group based on the
k,l
If we assume that the lower and upper bound of Ii,j are tness value ,the historical optimal value of the current
k,l
li,j and uk,l k,l k,l
respectively. If Ii,j is empty, then it has li,j
i,j , = particle, and the optimal value of the group.
k,l
ui,j = 0. Step 4: To update the velocity and position of the particle
The total usable regenerative braking energy is based on the following equation.

R=
k+1
vid = vid
k
+ c1 d (pkid xkid ) + c2 d (pkgd xkid ),
n 
m 
n 
m  xk+1
id = xkid + vid
k+1
, (11)
k,l
min qk,l (li,j , uk,l
i,j ), r
k,l
i,j (li,j , uk,l
i,j ) (j, l),
i=1 j=1 k=1 l=1 where c1 and c2 are the self cognitive factor and the social
(8) factor, respectively. It has c1 = c2 = 2.05. The inertia weight
coefcient is dened as . To ensure both the convergence
where (j, l) indicates if the jth and lth sections are in the speeds and accuracy of the algorithm, a varied inertia weight
same power supply range or not. (j, l) = 1 means the two coefcient is adopted. At the beginning of the algorithm, a
sections are in the same power supply zone, (j, l) = 0 large value is chosen for . With the increase of the number
indicates they are in different power supply ranges. of iterations, the value of gradually decreases. d and d
 1
 are random numbers uniformly distributed between 0 and 1.
qk,l (t1 , t2 ) = qk,l max(k,l , t1 ), min(k,l , t2 )
 2 3
 Step 5: To judge the conditions for termination of the
+ qk,l max(k,l , t1 ), min(k,l , t2 ) , algorithm. If the tness value of the group is globally
 1

rk,l (t1 , t2 ) = rk,l max(k,l , t1 ), min(k,l , t2 ) converged or the maximum number of iterations has been
 2 3

+ rk,l max(k,l , t1 ), min(k,l , t2 ) . reached, the algorithm will be ended. Otherwise, it goes back
to Step 2.
The object of optimization is to minimize the net energy
consumption, which is the difference between the total B. Simulation of short section
tractive energy and the used regenerative braking energy. The sections of Beijing Yizhuang subway line are between
1000 m and 2600 m. Trains can run through sections using
E(t1j , t2j , t3j , tj 4, t5j , hj , sj ) = Q R. (9) one time traction control scheme. We use the parameters of

2609
 TABLE I 80
E1
E XISTING AND ENERGY- SAVING TIMETABLE OF B EIJING Y IZHUANG R1
SUBWAY LINE 70 E2
R2
Existing timetable Energy-saving timetable
60
Station Arriving Dwell Arriving Dwell
time (s) time (s) time (s) time (s)
Songjiazhuang 0 30 0 28 50

Energy (kWh)
Xiaocun 220 30 213 32
Xiaohongmen 358 30 349 34
Jiugong 545 30 545 29 40
Yizhuangqiao 710 35 715 27
Wenhuayuan 845 30 842 28 30
Wanyuanjie 989 30 992 25
Rongjing 1122 30 1127 25
Rongchang 1256 30 1269 25 20
Tongjinan 1460 30 1446 28
Jinghai 1640 30 1633 28 10
Ciqu 1820 35 1839 26
Ciqunan 1959 45 1968 35
Yizhuang 2117 2124 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Distance (m) 4
x 10
TABLE II
E NERGY CONSUMPTION OF B EIJING Y IZHUANG SUBWAY LINE
Fig. 5. Energy consumption of Beijing Yizhuang line using different
Tractive Used regenerative Used net strategies.
energy (kWh) energy (kWh) energy (kWh)
Real situation 1274.3 101.9 1172.4
Existing method 1274.3 137.8 1136.5 TABLE III
Proposed method 1248.1 149.4 1098.7 E XISTING AND ENERGY- SAVING TIMETABLE OF B EIJING C HANGPING
SUBWAY LINE

Existing timetable Energy-saving timetable

Yizhuang line in simulation to verify our proposed strategy Station arriving dwell arriving dwell
for short sections. time (s) time (s) time (s) time (s)
ZhuXZ 0 35 0 27
In the simulation, there are 6 trains and 14 stations. The
ShengmingKXY 185 40 189 32
mass of a train is 294.6 ton. The time interval between Xierqi 665 50 615 46
departure trains is 120 s. The loss rates are = = 0.1. ShengmingKXY 1065 35 1023 38
The existing and energy-saving timetable are presented in ZhuXZ 1250 1217
Table I. Based on the proposed strategy for short section,
the energy-saving system model and PSO algorithm, we get
the net energy consumption, E = 1098.7 kWh. According to consumption between the real condition and the existing
the travelling time of trains in sections and the dwelling time method, and R2 is the difference of utilized regenerative
of trains in stations, the energy-saving timetable is obtained energy between the real case and the existing method. It is
and listed in Table. I. shown that our proposed method improve the utilization of
The comparison of energy consumption among the real regenerative energy, and is more energy-efcient than the
situation, the existing method [10] and our proposed scheme existing method.
is given in Table II. Compared to the energy consump- C. Simulation of long section
tion of the real case, our proposed strategy uses about
(1172.4 1098.7)/1172.4 = 6.2% less net energy. The Since Beijing Changping subway line has sections nearly
existing method coordinates the tractions and brakes be- 5000 m long. Trains need the second traction to run through
tween adjacent trains to use regenerative braking energy. the long section. We use the parameters of Changping line in
Different to the existing method, we consider the utilization simulation to verify the proposed method for long sections.
of regenerative braking energy among multiple trains, and The time interval between departure trains is 300 s. There
optimize the coasting points of trains. Our proposed strategy are 3 stations and 6 trains tracking in round-trip mode. Other
for short section increases the usage of regenerative energy parameters are the same as those used in the simulation of
by 9.2%, decreases the net energy consumption by 3.2%. short section.
The difference of the net energy consumption and the used Based on the proposed strategy for long sections, using
regenerative energy among the actual situation, the existing PSO algorithm to nd the optimized net energy consumption,
method and our approach is illustrated in Fig. 5. Where E = 287.5 kWh. The current adopted and energy-saving
E1 is the difference of net energy consumption between the timetable are given in Table. III.
actual case and our proposed strategy, R1 is the difference The comparison of energy consumption between the real
of used regenerative energy between the real condition and case, the existing and our proposed methods is given in
our proposed scheme, E2 is the difference of net energy

2610
 TABLE IV algorithm to nd the globally optimal solution. Finally, we
E NERGY CONSUMPTION OF B EIJING C HANGPING SUBWAY LINE used the parameters of Beijing Yizhuang and Changping
subway lines to verify the effectiveness of our proposed
Tractive Used regenerative Used net methods for short sections and long sections, respectively.
energy (kWh) energy (kWh) energy (kWh)
Real situation 365.9 0 365.9 It was shown that compared with the existing method, our
Existing method 347.2 42.7 304.5 approach can increase the usage of regenerative braking
Proposed method 354.8 67.3 287.5 energy by 9.2%, and reduce the net energy consumption by
3.2% on Beijing Yizhuang line. For Beijing Changping line,
the net energy consumption can be reduced by 5.5%.
80 R EFERENCES
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Fig. 6. Energy consumption of Beijing Changping line using different
strategies.
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existing method and our proposed scheme, E2, R2, are
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V. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, we studied the energy-efcient operation
method based on the utilization of regenerative braking
energy among multiple trains. Firstly, we designed the uti-
lization strategies of regenerative braking energy for short
sections and long sections, respectively. Unlike the existing
method, our approach is not restricted to the usage of
regenerative energy between adjacent trains. Further more,
the generation or usage of regenerative energy is not only by
trains arriving at or leaving stations but also by trains running
in sections. Based on the proposed strategies, we constructed
the energy-saving system model, and designed the PSO

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