Power and energy for the future railways

The electric energy consumption of the transport sector is expected to increase in the coming decades. This results primarily from the electrification of road traffic and secondarily from an increasing number of passenger and freight trains. The aim of this project is to model and estimate the electrical power demand of the entire railway power system, which in Switzerland is different from the normal power grid, and runs at 16.7 Hz; and to create a robust forecast of future power consumption, based on different uncertainties. Additionally, this project identifies how to design the interconnection of the railway power system with the transport systems, including the possibility to connect photo-voltaic power generation (PV) systems with the 16.7 Hz system and charging battery-powered road vehicles (electric cars and electric buses) via the 16.7 Hz system. The ultimate goal is to reduce the peak and average load on the local distribution grids caused by charging process, by combining multiple transport and power systems.

01.2021 - 12.2023