Railway Electrification
Railway electrification systems have undergone significant development in recent years due to the demands of high-speed lines, metros and light rail systems. In order to achieve safe and reliable integration of electrical/electronic systems, such as train control systems, in the railway environment, a basic understanding of railway electrification systems is required. This is an essential pre-requisite for understanding EMC issues for example. Also railway electrification is changing with moves away from traditional DC and 16 ⅔ Hz systems in Europe to 25kV AC and in the UK the introduction of auto-transformers on the WCRM project.
Key subjects covered
- dc Railway electrification
- ac Railway electrification ‘booster’ transformer and ‘auto-transformer’ systems
- Protection systems for ac and dc railways
- Earthing strategies and ‘touch’ potentials
- Earthing and grounding
- System modelling dc
- System modelling ac
- Current collection equipment – OLE, 3rd/4th rail systems
The course covers dc railway electrification systems, including sub-station spacing, supply voltage system regulation, rectifiers, substation rating, fault currents; ac railway electrification, including explanations of booster transformer and auto-transformer systems; protection systems, including vacuum breakers, high speed-breakers, distance impedance protection, track fault discrimination, earth fault detection; earthing strategies, stray current corrosion, diode earth systems, floating systems, effects on touch potentials; examples of dc and ac system models; overhead contact line arrangement, conductors, pantograph design, dynamic characteristics, conductor rails, shoe-gear, arcing/wear and maintenance.
Who should attend
- Those requiring an introduction to railway electrification.
- Graduate engineers new to the rail industry,
- engineers needing to understand booster vs auto transformer systems,
- systems integrators and
- EMC Assurance Managers/Engineers
Last Updated: 2010-Feb-10
