IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - 4

By Jesus R. Jimenez-Octavio, Cristina
Sanchez-Rebollo, and Alberto Carnicero

The Dependance
on Mechanical
Design in Railway
Electrification
Focusing on the ac perspective.

LECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAY SYSTEMS
becomes a very tricky topic when designing
overhead contact lines (OCLs). This article
highlights the strong dependence of the
mechanical design on the railway electrification. Indeed, only the high sensitivity of the quality of
service to the mechanical performance of the OCL can
explain the complex designs of the existing railway lines.
The interoperability framework of the European Union
together with the standards that tackle gauges and clearance calculations are briefly introduced, both for the static
and dynamic analyses of the pantograph and catenary.
A railway electrification system is comprised of all of
the facilities that are built to transport electricity from the
high-voltage power network to anywhere on the railway
line capable of providing power. This system includes an
installation of lines, usually for transport or delivery, connecting to the network; traction substations, which set up
the network voltage to the required voltages; autotransformers; and the OCL, also known as catenary, which runs
along the whole line, supplying electricity to the railway
rolling stock.

E

The main difference
between the railway electrification system and
power transmission or
distribution lines is its
inherent difficulty of
feeding the rolling stock
as a moving load. This
feature has yielded different electrification
©CAN STOCK PHOTO/ZHANGYUANGENG
options, such as cablebased OCLs, third rails, or
rigid OCLs, instead of using the widespread cable structures. Undoubtedly, there is a very strong coupling
between the mechanical design and the electrical feeding
of the rolling stock, using the commonly known catenary-
pantograph interaction. Because of the key influence of
the speed of the vehicles on this dynamic interaction and
the rapid proliferation of high-speed lines, the research
on the design and improvement of this kind of line has
taken off.

railway electrification system
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MELE.2013.2271416
Date of publication: 23 October 2013

4

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

Since alternating current (ac) electrification is the most
common in high-speed lines, this article will focus
predominantly on this perspective even though the
2325-5987/13/$31.00©2013IEEE



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

IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - Cover1
IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - Cover2
IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - 1
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IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - Cover3
IEEE Electrification Magazine - September 2013 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_december2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_september2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/pes/electrification_june2017
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