IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - 14

many technical innovations and today is characterized by
several unique features, which will be described here in
Land Area
km2
Italic
comparison with those of European systems from a point
of view of dynamic interaction between the pantograph
Population
Million
127.5
and the contact line.
343
Population density
People/km2
JR lines
km
20,124
The Tokaido Shinkansen started commercial service
JR double track
km
12,161 (60.2%)
with a maximum speed of 210 km/h. An ac 25-kV, 60-Hz
JR electrified
km
9,841 (41.1%)
feeding system with BTs was adopted. This feeding sysPassenger transport MPkm
404.3
tem required a complex contact-line design at insulated
Shinkansen
MPkm
81.4
overlaps to prevent arcing, which caused maintenance
Freight transport
Mtkm
20.4
EMU
Cars
49,563 (JR22,776)
and other technical problems. Therefore, an AT feeding
EL
Cars
675 (JR578)
system was introduced on the Sanyo Shinkansen line in
1972, which was the second Shinkansen line to open.
This system allows for simple insulated overlaps,
resulting in a reduction of risk for serious contact-line
Table 2. The History of Japanese Electric
accidents.
Traction.
On the early Shinkansen lines, such as the Tokaido
Year
Event
Shinkansen, a compound contact-line design was
1872
Start of rail in Tokyo
installed [Figure 6(a)]. These Shinkansen lines connect
1895
First electrified tram
metropolitan areas, where high-density operations
1927
First Japanese-made mercury rectifier
were demanded. In the case of the Tokaido Shinkansen,
1954
AC feeding test on Senzan line
up to 14 trains depart from Tokyo Station in 1 h, and
1964
Tokaido Shinkansen, 210 km/h, 60-Hz ac supply
1970
AT feeding system applied
each train has 1,323 seats. The compound contact-line
1987
Privatization and splitting of JNR
system is suitable such mass transit lines because of
1997
300 km/h on the Sanyo Shinkansen with 500
its large current capacity.
train series
On the other hand, a simple contact-line system with2013
320 km/h on the Tohoku Shinkansen with E5 train
out a stitch wire was used on the newer lines [Figure
series
6(b)]. These lines link provincial cities, where high-density operations are not required. The simple contact-line
higher harmonic resonance suppression through
system, whose current capacity is lower than that of a
matching characteristic impedance with capacitance
compound contact line, is adopted as a standard overand resistor (HMCR) equipment. The HMCR equipment
head catenary system of these lines. This contact line
is installed on most conventional AT lines and some
consists of fewer components than the compound conShinkansen lines.
tact line does, resulting in lower costs for installation and
maintenance.
Catenary and Pantographs for HSR
The pantographs of Shinkansen trains can be classified
The pantograph/contact-line system of the Shinkansen
roughly into two categories. One is a traditional diamondhas 49 years of history. This system was improved by
shaped pantograph, and the other is a low-noise pantograph. Until 1997, trains had been
equipped with the f-ormer pantographs, but after that the low-noise
pantographs were generally used.
Negative Feeder
25 kV
Since Japan is a mountainous
BT
NF
Capacitor
4 km
Substation
island country and the routes of
Contact Line
0 kV
Section
Shinkansen lines pass through
CNF
Rail
many populated areas, the railway
(a)
operators have to solve serious
Sectioning Post
ATP
+25 kV
trackside environment problems.
Contact Line
AT
50 kV
10 km
In particular, wayside noise has
Rail
been one of the most serious prob0 kV
CPW
Substation
lems, also impacting the high-25 kV
Feeder
speed pantograph/contact-line
Protective Wire
system. That is because the panto(b)
graph is one of the most intense
noise sources. Figure 7 shows the
Figure 3. AC feeding circuits: (a) BT circuit and (b) AT circuit. (CNF: c- onnection for negative
feeder; NF: negative feeder.)
development of pantographs for

Table 1. Statistics of JR in 2012.

I E E E E l e c t r i f i c atio n Magaz ine / september 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013