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Benefits of a low frequency, low voltage railway electrification system

Conference Paper · January 1996

DOI: 10.1109/RRCON.1996.507977 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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 Benefits of a Low Frequency, Low Voltage Railway Electrification System
Bharat Bhargava
Southern California Edison Company
Rosemead, California 91770
ABSTRACT
The benefits of a low frequency (15-20 HZ) railway
electrification system are presented in this paper. The low
frequency railway electrification system has been used in
European countries for almost a century. The railway
electrification load is one of the worst kinds of load to be fed
by an electrical utility. It requires over sized substation
facilities and results in power quality deterioration. With the
modern day power electronics technology available for
frequency conversion and the high power quality demanded
by the utility power customers, the low frequency systems
will provide an affordable and desirable railway
electrification system.
INTRODUCTION
The low frequency electrified railway system has been
in operation for over a century in Sweden, Germany and
other European countries. With the modern day power
electronics technology available for frequency conversion,
and the high power quality demanded by the utility power
customers, the low frequency system is likely to make the
railway electrification system more affordable and desirable.
This paper will detail specifically how low frequency
railway electrification may provide economic and superior
performance over the present railway electrification system
in America.
The United States has the highest mileage of railway
tracks in the World, but is the least electrified when
compared to other industrialized countries. Only one percent
of the 244,000 miles of railway track is electrified in the
U.S. The reasons for the low level of electrification have
been the abundance of cheap diesel oil and the high cost of
railway electrification. However, because of environmental
constraints, several major U.S. cities are considering railway
electrification.
Also, several major cities and their Metropolitan areas are
either building or expanding their Metro rail system and
building electrified railway traction systems. These
environmental pressures will continue and will force railway
electrification on the heavily traveled freight routes. In view
of this, this may be an opportune time to select an
appropriate railway electrification system which could
provide superior performance at an economical price.
RAILWAY INDUSTRY IN USA AND EUROPE
Railway usage in the U.S. differs greatly from the
railway industry in Europe and on other continents. They are
primarily used for freight in the U.S. The freight trains in the
U.S. are much larger and carry a much higher load as
compared to those in Europe and in other parts of the World.
Since the railways are generally used for freight movement
in the U.S., they do not have to move as fast as in other
European countries where the railway usage is for personal
travel. The freight trains in the U.S. often carry double
stacks, which require much higher electrical clearances. The
railways are operated by private companies and two or more
companies operate in the same general area carrying freight
from major ports to the main consumption areas in the
country. For local transportation and the commute from
work to home, the desired mode of transportation has been
the automobile. Because of the low cost, faster service and
longer distances involved in the United States, air travel has
been the primary people mover.
On the other hand, in Europe and even in most of the
rest of the World, the railways are the primary people
mover. Railway travel is not only used in the inner cities, but
also for the daily commute to work in the city from the
outskirts of the city. The railway trains move the people as
well as the freight. Air travel is used rarely and for longer
distances only. European countries provide railway
transportation at an affordable price. The train speeds have
steadily increased to reduce travel time, and TGV trains
travelling as fast as 330 MPH are in operation in France.
In view of these marked differences in public attitude,
railways have flourished steadily in Europe and other major
parts of the World, whereas they have been used to a limited
extent in the United States and mostly for freight
transportation. Amtrak was set up by the U.S. Government
to encourage railway travel.
FUTURE FOR RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION :
The extensive railway route length in the United States
will require large amounts of capital investment for railway
electrification maintenance and operation. Because of the
large amounts of new capital and the low investment return,
there is reluctance to electrify the railways on the part of the
railway companies. Therefore, the electrification has still not
been done except for heavily traveled routes. Reducing the
cost of railway electrification will generate incentives for the
railway companies and will help in expediting railway
electrification.
The U.S. railways are under pressure due to the
environment to electrify some routes which are either
heavily traveled corridors or carry large quantities of freight.
Since most of the tracks in America are already built and in
service, most of the civil work is already in place.
Electrification of these routes will require extensive civil
modifications, like lowering the railway tracks or raising the
overhead bridges, etc., which is in itself very expensive. The
completed civil engineering work limits the choice of
voltages as the higher voltage operating systems may require
extensive civil work modifications and turn out to be more
expensive. Innovative methods of reducing the operational
voltages, which will eventually reduce civil work costs, are
required.
Railway electrification costs in the U.S. can be reduced
and railway electrification/utility system performance can be
improved by suitable selection of the railway electrification
system. Modern day power electronics technology
developments such as the high power thyristors and the Gate
Turn Off thyristors (GTO) can make it economically
attractive to select systems with frequencies other than the
utility system frequency. As a result of these developments
in power electronics, the principle of frequency conversion
is being used extensively not only to improve the operational
efficiency of the induction motor application, but will
provide superior speed control. The same principles can be
applied to railway electrification system improvements and
cost reduction.
The best fit for a U. S. railway electrification system
could be to select a low frequency, low voltage system. The
low frequency (like 15 HZ or 20 HZ), of the traction power
system will enable the U.S. to increase the distance between
the system by increasing the distance between two
successive substations. Also, lowering the frequency would
provide a margin to lower the voltage from the 25 KV
catenary voltage most commonly used to 15 KV - 16.5 KV,
which could enable reducing the clearance requirements thus
reducing the civil modification costs.
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION SYSTEMS IN USA
Electrification System (Voltage, Frequency):
The railway electrification system in America has
generally been electrified for commuter rails. There are
some widely traveled routes such as the Amtrak northeast
corridor railway between Boston, Massachusetts and New
Haven, Connecticut which were electrified recently. The
electrification system is supplied by a single phase auto
transformer +/- 25 KV catenary voltage[1]. The frequency in
this system is 60 HZ. This is the most commonly used
railway electrification alternative.
There are some exclusive freight trains electrified in the
U.S. as well, particularly the Black Mesa-Lake Powell
railroad, which carries coal for the Navajo steam plant[2].
The freight train for the Black Mesa-Lake Powell is a unique
system built in the wilderness. Considerable economy in the
substations has been achieved by building the line on 50 KV
catenary voltage and using series compensation. The entire
railway line, which is about 80 miles long, is fed from a
single substation. Since this railway line is in the wilderness
and the railway line is for coal haulage, the economy has
been achieved by partially compromising the reliability.
There are some railway electrification systems in the
eastern U.S. operating at low voltage and low frequency.
The New Jersey Coastline between Rahway and Matawan-
Longbranch operates at 12 KV, 25 HZ. The low frequency
used is 25 HZ. The frequency conversion is done using
rotary converters and cyclo-converters[3]. Although this is a
low frequency system, it appears that the full benefits of the
lower frequency have not been exploited by this railway
electrification.
As indicated above, the trains in the U.S. are mostly
used for freight. Passenger traffic is comparatively much
smaller and mostly confined to very heavily traveled routes.
Some of these heavily traveled routes are San Diego-Los
Angeles, Washington-New York, and New Haven-
Connecticut, etc. The train travel is usually limited to
distances less than 150 to 200 miles. The larger distances
such as San Francisco-LA, LA-Phoenix or LA-Las Vegas,
etc. which are in the range of 250-500 miles are mostly
traveled by airplane.
Railway Electrification Substations:
The railway electrification substations in U.S. typically feed
20 miles of route length, 10 miles on each side of the railway
electrification substation. The railway tracks are generally
double tracks and each substation feeds about 40 miles of
Single Track Mile (STM). Thus the distance between each
substation is about 20 miles. The distance between each
substation is usually limited because of the voltage drop in
the catenary[4,5]. The railway electrification load is a single
phase load on the secondary side of the transformer which
feeds the catenary. This results in a highly unbalanced load
on the electrical system. The catenary can be serviced from
either a 25 KV or 50 KV voltage catenary to ground. The
auto transformer system is supplied with a voltage level of
+/- 25 KV when large loads have to be fed as in the case of
northeast corridor electrification[5,6]. The primary side of
the substation transformer can be connected phase to ground
or between two phases. From the utility standpoint, it is
desirable to connect the primary of the transformer between
two phases as the railway load is fed from two phases and
the loading on a single phase and unbalanced load is
reduced. A typical layout for a railway substation is shown
in Figure 1. The two adjacent substations are thus fed from
two different sets of phases. Substation A in Figure 1 may be
fed from phases AB, Substation B from BC and Substation
C from phases CA. The catenaries between the substations
are separated by Phase Breaks, which is a portion of the
catenary with no power from either substation.
Sub. A Sub. B Sub. C
Phase A
Phase B
Phase C
Figure 1. Power Distribution System for Three Adjacent
Railway Electrification Substations
The train relies on its inertia to move through this phase
break distance. When a train travels from Substation A to B
and passes through the phase break, the train load on the
system will be switched from Substation phases AB
(Substation A) to BC (Substation B) and when it travels
from Substation B to C the load will be switched from
phases BC (Substation B) to phases CA (Substation C). The
sudden change in the train load or the load on the substation
as the train moves out of the substation jurisdiction, will
cause voltage flicker and is usually observable even at a very
low percentage change. The perceptibility of this flicker is
dependent on the voltage change and its frequency. If the
change becomes too frequent or large then it will cause
annoyance to the people who may be supplied power from
this common substation bus. The irritability is dependent on
the frequency of occurrence and the percentage of voltage
change and is generally analyzed using a voltage flicker
curve. A frequently traveled route may result in annoyed
utility customers and result in more frequent complaints.
Number of Substations and other Major Railway
Electrification Costs:
The number of substations built to supply a railway
electrification system has a direct impact on the cost of the
railway electrification project. The other factors which will
influence the cost are the size of the substation and the
voltage level required to feed the railway electrification load.
The number of substations could be reduced if a substation
can provide power for greater track length. As indicated
above, this track length served from a substation is usually
limited by the catenary voltage drop. Higher conductor size,
if used, would reduce losses, increase current capacity, but
would not significantly reduce the inductive voltage drop
and thus not solve the voltage drop problem.
Innovative methods as in the case of the Black Mesa-
Lake Powell line have been used to reduce the number of
substations and thus the cost of railway electrification. The
methods include going to higher voltage (50 KV), and using
harmonic filtering and series compensation at the middle of
the line to reduce the voltage drop further[2]. Other methods
used to supply large loads are the auto-transformer feeder
method, etc.[6].
Power Requirements and Other Needs of Railway
Electrification :
The freight trains in America are run by four to six
diesel locomotives. With each diesel locomotive providing
power of about 4.0 MW, the total train load can be between
18-24 MW. This load level is considerably higher than the
commuter loads in the U.S. or the freight and commuter
trains in other countries. With up to four trains within the
substation jurisdiction, the substation peak load can be
estimated to be between 60-100 MVA.
The train load depends on a multitude of factors, such as
the train load, train headway, train speed, load hauled, the
track profile, etc. The railway electrification load is
generally determined using Train Simulation Programs.
The programs can give a reasonably accurate load
prediction. Generally when a system is designed, it must be
designed keeping in mind the future development or the
ultimate needs the railway electrification system has to
serve.
The freight trains with loads above 18 to 24 MW could
require substations at shorter distances or higher voltage or
auto transformer service because of higher loads and power
requirements. The possible alternative arrangement to reduce
the catenary voltage drop to maintain the distance separation
is to increase catenary service voltage with an auto
transformer arrangement to +/- 25 KV. This system runs a
parallel feeder circuit to maintain about 50 KV service
voltage between the positive and the negative feeder circuit
but the railway catenary voltage to ground is at 25 KV. This
system is being used in the Boston-New Haven northeast
corridor railway line.
Several studies conducted recently have shown that a 50
KV phase to ground system for railway electrification could
be less expensive, but would require extensive civil work
modifications. The civil work would therefore increase the
cost of overall electrification considerably.
Design Basis for the Railway Electrification Loads :
When designing a railway electrification system, the
system is generally designed to operate with full efficiency
even with the loss of a substation. Thus in Figure 1, the
system must be able to withstand the loss of Substation B
without any impact on train efficiency. Substations A and C
should be able to feed the power when the trains are in the
respective area. This basically puts a demand of almost 150
percent of the nominal substation load on each of the
substations as each substation should be able to withstand
the loss of the adjacent substation. As such, Substation A
should be able to carry the load of Substation A and half of
Substation B for the loss of Substation B, Substation B
should be able to carry Substation B and half of Substation
A for the loss of Substation A, and Substation C should be
able to carry the load of Substation C and half of Substation
B, for the loss of Substation B, etc. These loads thus become
the basis for the design of the system and for determining the
voltage unbalance, harmonics, voltage flicker, etc.
POWER QUALITY CONSIDERATIONS FOR
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION LOADS:
The railway electrification load is one of the worst kinds
of load for an electrical utility to supply. The only load
which gives more challenge to the utility is arc furnace load.
The railway electrification load is highly intermittent,
irregular, low load factor and poor power factor. The railway
electrification load creates system voltage and current
unbalance, generates harmonics and results in voltage
flicker. Because of the above characteristics, the railway
electrification load generally requires oversized substation
facilities. It stresses the electrical utility equipment more and
also causes interference with other customer loads and often
complaints from the other utility customers, etc. The railway
electrification load is fed on single or two phases of the
electrical utility system. This load has always been a
challenge to utility engineers and results in increased
electrification cost to the railways. Some recently electrified
railroads and the utilities are using extremely tight power
quality standards to maintain acceptable power quality to
other customers. They have also installed expensive Static
Load Balancing devices to reduce voltage unbalance and
flicker problems [8]. Some of the common power quality
characteristics of the loads are discussed below:
Voltage Unbalance:
The most restrictive criteria among voltage unbalance,
voltage flicker or harmonics is the voltage and current
unbalance. Voltage unbalance in an electrical utility system
is caused by unbalanced load or the un-transposed
transmission system. Railway electrification load is an
unbalanced load as it is fed from one or two phases only.
Voltage unbalance is dependent on the unbalanced load and
the power system source strength or the available short
circuit duty at the substation. The short circuit duty is
dependent on the transmission system and the number of
generators connected in the system. Current unbalance is
dependent on the load itself. At light load conditions, the
number of generators is lower and so the short circuit duty is
lower. The lesser number of generators results in each of
those generators sharing more unbalance current. Voltage
and current imbalance impacts both the utility and its
customers. For the utility, the unbalance results in the
negative phase sequence currents which flow into the utility
generators and result in heating the generator rotors. The
unbalance limit of a generator is dependent on the I2 T
withstand capability of the generators. Typically at
unbalanced voltage, the generators have to provide power
and negative sequence currents which heat the generator
rotors and may result in tripping the generators. For utility
customers, unbalanced voltage causes negative phase
sequence currents to flow into the motors and causes the
motors to be heated up. This reduces the motors’ capacity
and the motors have to be derated[9].
Electrical utilities in the U.S. try to limit the unbalance
to about 2 percent maximum. There is also an inherent
system unbalance present in the utility system because of
other sources. Typically these sources are the single phase
loads being fed from the distribution system, or the un-
transposed high voltage transmission lines, etc. Typically an
electrical utility can see up to 0.5 - 0.8 percent unbalance
inherently present in the system. Electrical utilities make
efforts to balance these single phase loads on the distribution
system, but it is extremely difficult to reduce the unbalance
because of the random nature of the load.
Allowing for 1 percent ambient unbalance from other
sources, the voltage unbalance from the railway
electrification load will have to be limited to 1 percent.
Some utilities may allow higher ambient voltage unbalance.
Also some utilities have reported consumer complaints when
2 percent imbalance was used [7,9]. While designing
substations and the electrification system for railway
electrification, it is always desirable to measure the ambient
voltage unbalance over a period of a couple of days. Also
the unbalance should be compared with the short circuit duty
available to actually calculate the load in the MW causing
this ambient voltage unbalance.
The typical load fed from a railway electrification
substation was estimated to be about 60 - 100 MVA. This
would allow about four trains within the substation beat.
Assuming that a 100 MVA load has to be fed from two
phases of a substation in Figure 1, and also assuming that the
ambient unbalance is 1 percent, then the short circuit duty
must be more than 10,000 MVA to limit the voltage drop to
less than 1 percent imbalance.
Voltage Flicker:
The voltage flicker caused by the railway electrification
load is also dependent on the system source strength or the
short circuit duty. If the source has a high short circuit duty
(say 10,000 MVA), then a 25 MVA train load moving out of
the substation will cause approximately 0.25 percent voltage
change in the voltage. For a single phase load, the short
circuit duty for one phase (in this case 3333 MVA) and the
flicker would be 0.75 percent. If the power is fed from two
primary phases, then the load is divided from two phases and
the flicker will be about half or about 0.375 percent.
Although unbalance is hard to uncover, the flicker is readily
perceivable and can be detected easily by the customers.
Harmonics from Railway Electrification Load:
Most railway locomotives used today are thyristor
controlled power electronics based. This type of load
generates high levels of harmonics. Harmonic currents from
modern day locomotives have been shown to be as high as
25 percent. The voltage THD is as high as 6 percent.[6] The
harmonics can, however, be controlled by appropriate
filtering whether on board or at the substation. The
allowable harmonic levels generally depend on the utility
but IEEE-519[10] defines some guidelines. The standard just
gives a guideline and each utility must establish its own
standards. The allowable harmonics are dependent on
system characteristics. Systems with extensive shunt
capacitors have to be specially analyzed to avoid resonances
with the utility or the customers capacitor installations. The
French and English grid operators have specified much
lower harmonic limits for the Channel Tunnel[8].
Although the levels given in IEEE-519 may not be a
major problem, the harmonics could interfere with
sophisticated control systems and other loads. The voltage
harmonics are also dependent on the short circuit duty at the
substation.
Power Factor:
The railway traction load power factor can range
between 0.5 to 0.8. Although power factor correction is
possible, the rapidly changing railway load and the power
factor still present a challenge for power factor correction.
Power factor cannot be corrected as rapidly as the load is
changing and thus rapidly changing power factor and the
load will still result in fast changes in vars from the system
and thus result in some flicker or voltage changes.
Load Factor:
The railway electrification load factor is dependent on
the train frequency and usage. The typical load factor for a
substation is about 15-25 percent depending on the train
frequency. Compared to the other utility loads, this is a poor
load factor and the energy sales are much lower compared to
the peak load demand. This type of load thus results in
excessively high investment costs for the utility.
SUBSTATION SHORT CIRCUIT DUTY, PRIMARY
VOLTAGE AND CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS:
Short Circuit Duty Requirements:
The voltage unbalance, flicker and harmonics are all
dependent on the short circuit duty level at the substation. A
high duty substation has more capability and can feed higher
unbalanced load and harmonics, or will have lower flicker.
In order to limit the unbalance to 1 percent and allowing
for the ambient unbalance of 1 percent, the minimum short
circuit duty required to meet a 60 to 100 MVA unbalanced
load would be 6,000 to 10,000 MVA. This type of short
circuit duty is only feasible on 230 KV substations with a
strong network. Also, this short circuit duty would be
required to limit the voltage flicker to 1 percent or below.
Although the higher flicker levels can be tolerated, a high
train frequency could result in customer complaints.
Substation Capacity and Primary Voltage:
The primary side substation voltage is a major concern.
Basically this will establish the voltage level from which the
railway electrification load will be fed by the utility and will
have a major impact on the project cost. Both the substation
cost and the transmission costs will increase with substation
capacity and the voltage level. A power level of 120 MVA
can easily be fed by a 69 KV or a 115 KV substation. The
typical three phase short circuit duties on a 69 KV or a 115
KV substation range from 1500 MVA to 5000 MVA. Thus
the single phase load that could be fed from these
substations would be 15 MVA to 50 MVA only. Higher
design basis loads require that the short circuit duty of the
system be enough so that the voltage flicker, unbalance and
harmonics standards are satisfied. These are dependent on
the system strength at the substation. The only solution is to
push for a higher voltage system.
A 230 KV or higher voltage substation would be
required to serve single phase loads with more than 60 MVA
power. Most of the substations built in France to supply
power to TGV high speed trains which feed power to
substations with 40-60 MVA capacity are built with primary
voltages of 275 KV or 400 KV. A 230 KV voltage
substation if built to provide 60-100 MVA power will be
under utilized and costly. In the U.S., these substation
voltages are typically used to provide 500-800 MVA power.
Power Quality Problem Solutions in European
Countries:
Because of the above power quality and system
problems, some European countries have totally isolated the
railway electrification systems from other industrial and
residential loads. This of course increases their investment in
power generation and transmission but eliminates other
problems and enables them to design the electrification
system best suited for railway electrification. To solve the
problems mentioned above they have designed single phase
railway electrification systems which provide several
benefits in the utilization of the catenary system, keep the
power quality to the other customers clean, and eliminate the
current unbalance problems, etc. The railways in Germany
generate their own power, transmit and transform it.
Generating electricity and transforming it at low frequency
increases the size of the generating and transforming
equipment and results in more expensive equipment. In
contrast, Sweden purchases power from the electric grid,
transforms it and then converts it into a lower frequency.
France and some other countries have gone to higher
substation primary voltages and very restrictive power
quality standards to feed the power system from the utility
grid[11]. Going to higher voltage levels obviously is an
expensive alternative.
LOW FREQUENCY, LOW VOLTAGE SYSTEM FOR
RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION:
Frequency conversion is not only possible, but is
becoming an economically attractive alternative. The
frequency conversion is being used for accurate speed
control and energy and power savings in several industrial
processes. The cost of power frequency conversion is
dropping and the reliability is constantly improving. Modern
day control systems are making the conversion very precise
and efficient. Frequency conversion systems can be applied
to the railway electrification systems to obtain the
advantages of industrial frequency for power generation and
the low frequency system for power distribution on the
catenary. The 60 HZ frequency can be converted to 15 or 20
HZ for railway electrification. When converting the
frequency, the low frequency system can be operated as a
single phase system. The frequency conversion can be done
using a cyclo-converter, or it can be done using an
AC/DC/AC system conversion. The AC/DC/AC conversion
is used extensively in Adjustable Speed Drives(ASD). This
would solve multitudes of problems related to power quality,
reduce the cost of electrification, etc.
A low frequency system decreases the cost of
electrification by increasing the distance between two
successive substations, and reducing civil engineering
modification costs by enabling lowering the catenary voltage
from the 25 KV voltage commonly used in the U.S. to 16.5
KV at 15/20 HZ. Such a system would enable paralleling the
catenaries between two substations on the secondary side,
thus increasing the capabilities of the catenaries and
reducing the power quality and unbalance voltage problems.
The various advantages that can be derived from low
frequency operation are:
BENEFITS OF A LOW FREQUENCY, LOW
VOLTAGE ALTERNATIVE:
1. Longer substation beat/less substation installations:
A lower frequency system will reduce the inductive
voltage drop in the catenary. A 15 HZ system would have
approximately one fourth the inductive voltage drop as
compared to a 60 HZ system, thus it would enable the
substations to be located at 3 to 4 times the distance
compared to a 60 HZ system based just on the voltage drop
criterion. The number of substations required could be
reduced to 30-40 percent.
2. Parallel operation of catenaries from adjacent
substation:
The catenaries of the traction system can be all in phase.
They can be paralleled on the secondary side. Paralleling the
secondaries will enable the power to be drawn from two or
more substations, thus decreasing the voltage drop further in
the catenary and also distributing the load on two or more
substations. There will be a smoother transition of load from
one substation to the other as the train moves along.
Paralleling the catenaries could further help in increasing the
distance between substations and reduce power losses in the
catenaries. This would also improve the effective utilization
of the substations and reduce the peak load thereby
increasing the substation load factor, and reducing substation
size. With modern power electronics and an advanced ASD
control system, the voltage at a substation can be controlled
for optimum loading on the substation. This will also
improve the utilization of the catenary system.
3. Reduced voltage operation at 15-16.5 KV:
Since the substation beat can be increased because of a
lower frequency and parallel operation of the catenary
system, lower catenary voltage could be used and substantial
savings are achieved in civil engineering modifications by
reducing the electrical clearance requirements at the reduced
voltage level. The lower voltages have been used in
Germany and Sweden with success. Reducing the voltage
level; however, would increase the current in the catenary
and would increase losses which may require a higher size
catenary conductor or an additional feeder circuit.
4. Lesser electrical clearances and civil engineering
requirements:
Lower voltages will result in lower clearance
requirements. This could be useful where bridges have to be
raised, tracks have to be lowered or when the tunnels do not
permit adequate clearances for the 25 KV system. In a recent
study conducted by the Los Angeles County Transportation
Commission, a 25 KV railway electrification system was
being selected even though the electrification costs were
lower for a 50 KV system primarily because of the higher
electrical clearances required at 50 KV.
5. Reduced substation voltage capacity or better
utilization of substation and catenary capacity:
With the 25 KV single-phase, 60 HZ system, each
substation has to be designed to provide full power for the
trains within the substation beat and half the adjacent
substation. By paralleling the traction system on the
secondary side and sharing the loads among the adjacent
substations, it is quite possible to reduce the substation
capacity or to provide larger train frequency.
6. Reduced unbalance voltage problem:
The traction load, as explained earlier, is one of the
worst kinds of load as it is often supplied from one or two
phases of a power system. The single phase load creates
voltage unbalance and other power quality problems. Very
often the substation voltage level selection is based on or is
dictated by the acceptable unbalanced voltage levels which
have to be supplied by the utility. Because of large traction
loads (60 - 100 MVA), the US utility grid would have to
supply the power from a short circuit duty source of about
10,000 MVA. This short circuit duty source is only available
at 230 KV substations or above. The unbalanced load also
generates negative sequence currents and the substation will
have to be separated adequately from the generators. A
balanced load would have to be supplied by a high voltage
system so that the traction load is separated from the other
customers or the generators.
With a low frequency traction system, the load will
appear as a balanced load on the utility system. There would
be little unbalanced voltage or current problems. The
frequency conversion system would also separate traction
load from the rest of the customers.
7. Reduced harmonics into the system:
With the low frequency system, harmonics would be
generated in the conversion equipment. Appropriate filtering
can be provided along with the conversion equipment to
limit the harmonics to acceptable levels. The modern day
electric locomotives have onboard power factor correction
and harmonic filtering. The frequency conversion equipment
filters on the system would further reduce the harmonics
generated from the locomotives and reduce the harmonics
entering into the utility system.
8. Lower voltage utility substations:
The unbalance voltage caused by the trains can become
the single most important factor which will dictate the
selection of the substation primary voltage. Adequate short
circuit duty and voltage levels are required to limit the
voltage unbalance and the harmonics at the substation.
Additional substations had to be installed by British Rail to
reduce the voltage unbalance in their Eastern Corridor
Railway line. British Rail has developed extremely
conservative power quality (unbalance, harmonics)
standards for the Channel electrification which would
require high voltage substations. SNIFF builds 275 or 400
KV substations to provide the power for TGV (Ref. 11).
Since a low frequency, low voltage system would eliminate
or reduce the power quality problems, a 40 to 60 MW load
could easily be served by a 69 KV or a 115 KV substation.
SCE’s typical 69 KV or 115 KV substations are designed to
serve up to 112 MW loads.
9. Locomotive transformer and AC motor size:
Lower traction frequency at the locomotive will require
a bigger transformer and motors in the electric locomotive.
These low frequency locomotives have, however, been used
extensively in Germany, Sweden and some other countries.
The lower frequency at the locomotive will increase the size
and the weight of the locomotive slightly. The cost would
also increase slightly. Higher weight of the electric
locomotive would improve the traction.
CONCLUSIONS
What America needs is an optimized system which will
enable electrification at the lowest overall cost including the
railway electrification costs, the electrical utility costs and
the associated civil engineering costs. The electrical utility
costs can become significant to meet the power quality
requirements and needs to be included when considering the
overall cost of railway electrification. This will reduce the
overall investment required by the railway industry.
Learning from experience with low frequency, low voltage
electrification systems such as those utilized in Sweden
could enable the US to select an optimum, cost effective
railway electrification system.
NOTE
This paper represents the views of its author and
does not necessarily represent the views of Southern
California Edison Co. or its parent organization SCE Corp.
REFERENCES
[1] Ali F. Imece, Hubert Potard and John P. Daniel,
“Electromagnetic Impact of Railway Electrification”
presented at the 1994 Mass Transit Conference held in
Dallas, Texas, in October, 1994.
[2] J. J. Burke, A. P. Engle, S. R. Gilligan and N. A.
Mincer,“Increasing the Power System Capability of the 50
KV Black Mesa and Lake Powell Railroad through
Harmonic Filtering and Series Compensation”, IEEE paper
No. F79284, presented at the IEEE Winter Power Meeting,
New York, February 4-9, 1979.
[3] Tristan Kneshke, “Power Supply Systems for
Electrification of the New Jersey Coast Line,” IEEE Paper
No. CH2617-5/85/0000-0029 in IEEE Publication No.
85CH2167-5 presented at the Joint IEEE/ASME Railroad
Conference in New York, New York, in April 1985.
[4] Tristan Kneshke,“ Simple Method for Determination of
Substation Spacings for AC and DC Electrification
Systems”, IEEE Paper No. CH2207-9/85/0000-0274 in
IEEE Publication No. 85CH2207-9 presented at the
Industrial Application Society annual meeting held in
Toronto, Canada, in October, 1985.
[5] Tristan Kneshke, “Substation Spacing for AC
Electrified Railroads - Some Influencing Factors,” IEEE
Paper No. 82-RT-4 in IEEE Publication No. 82-CH1778-0
presented at the Joint IEEE/ASME Railroad Conference in
Erie, Pennsylvania, in April 1982.
[6] P Stecuik, J. J.Burke, “The Impact of Railroad
Electrification on Utility System Power Quality”, presented
at the 1994 Mass Transit Conference held in Dallas , Texas
in October, 1994.
[7] Tristan Kneshke, “Control of Utility System Unbalance
Caused by Single Phase Electric Traction”, IEEE Paper No.
CH2060-2/84/0000-0259 in IEEE Publication No.
85CH2060-2 presented at the Industrial Application Society
annual meeting held at Chicago, Illinois in October, 1984.
[8] R. Bedrune , F. Gallon, A. Maher, J. S. Finn and J. M.
Lucas, “Load Balances for the Channel Tunnel”, CIGRE
1992, Paper No. 36-207.
[9] ANSI C84.1 -1989, Appendix D, Polyphase Voltage
Unbalance
California. He is actively involved in transient analysis and
power system studies such as SSR, System Dynamics,
Power System Stabilizers, Power Quality, Railway
Electrification, capacitor switching studies, etc. Mr.
Bhargava has been involved in several research projects
such as the NGH SSR protective device, and recently in the
procurement, installation and testing of an Energy Source
Power System Stabilizer for a 10 MW/40 MWH Battery
Energy Storage System at Chino Substation. Mr. Bhargava
was a member of the team from SCE that visited four
European countries in December 1991 to study the various
railway electrification systems in Europe. This paper is
based on that visit.
Mr. Bhargava graduated from Delhi University in 1961
with a Masters from Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in
1976. He worked with UP State Electricity Board in India
from 1961 to 1975. Mr. Bhargava is a Senior Member of
IEEE PAS, IAS and Vehicular Societies, and a Member of
CIGRE.

[10] IEEE Standard 519-1992, “IEEE Recommended

Practices and Requirements for Harmonic Control in
Electrical Power Systems.”

[11] Bharat Bhargava, “What America Can Learn from

Railway Electrification Systems in Europe,” presented at the
1994 Mass Transit Conference at Dallas, Texas, October,
1994.

Bharat Bhargava

Mr. Bharat Bhargava is a Senior Engineer in the

Transmission / Substation Engineering Reliability Group of
the Southern California Edison Company in Rosemead,

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