Optimising energy saving in metro systems through characteristic evaluation

As it expands, the rail industry is concerned not only with maintaining service quality and managing increased demand, but with improving energy efficiency. Whilst it is important that future passenger infrastructures, rolling stock and operations are designed sustainably, existing systems need to reduce their environmental impacts to meet international efficiency targets. A number of energy-saving solutions have been developed to achieve this, often showing excellent results in simulation and for selected case studies. However, operators face a difficult decision when choosing solutions to implement, as these results give limited information on transferability. It may be obvious that a particular solution is more suited for high speed rail than a metro, given the differences between these systems. Yet it could just as easily be the case that a solution which works for one metro is not effective for another, due to certain factors. Through the application of a previously developed method, these factors are investigated for different metro systems. The impact of route, vehicle and service characteristics on the application of energy saving solutions is evaluated, allowing the characteristics with greatest influence to be determined. From this information, recommendations are made as to which solutions are most appropriate for the different systems investigated.