RAILENERGY - Innovative Integrated Energy Efficiency Solutions for Railway Rolling Stock, Rail Infrastructure and Train Operation
Overview
Background & policy context:
Railway operators agree that energy consumption is one of the key environmental factors, together with the related emissions/air quality and noise. There are strong incentives on the part of the sector to reduce energy consumption so as to reduce life cycle costs and to maintain and enhance railways' image as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport. All the stakeholders in the sector are interested to secure economic viability of the railway systems and its competitiveness vis-à-vis other modes.
Energy costs are becoming a principal cost driver for railway operators due to the rising energy prices in the latest years and it is becoming a question of economic survival to bring these costs down, at least in relative terms. The three largest European railway networks are spending up to €1.75 billion per year on energy.
Freight customers are mostly concerned with the unit prices especially for the 'high-volume/low-value' rail transport market whereas passengers using trains today besides the cost of the ticket are increasingly demanding comfort and overall attractiveness of trains. While trying to meet their customers' expectations railways have to address issues that arise as a consequence of more comfort functions, such as growing energy consumption. It will be very important in the coming years to ensure a sustainable compromise between the need to continue increasing the attractiveness of trains for the passengers on the one hand and the need to prevent an uncontrollable growth of energy consumption on the other hand.
There is a significant unrealised potential for energy savings in European railways that would enable railway operators to boost their cost efficiency in today's competitive environment, and the rail sector as a whole to honour its commitment to sustainable development.
Objectives:
The overall objective of Railenergy is to cut the energy consumption by developing a holistic framework approach, new concepts and integrated technical and technological solutions to improve energy efficiency. The holistic approach is at the heart of the project, creating the spirit for the proper integration and synergies of the combined results.
Railenergy will address the problem of energy efficiency within an optimised railway system thus contributing to a reduction in the life cycle costs of railway operation and of CO2 emissions per seat/kilometre or tonne/kilometre. The project target is to achieve a 6% reduction in the specific energy consumption of the rail system by 2020, assuming that traffic volumes double in comparison with current figures.
Methodology:
The inter-relationship of railway sub-systems is highly complex, especially with regard to assessing their consumption of energy. Therefore, a fully integrated approach is the only way to achieve true energy savings. The special feature of the Railenergy IP is the holistic approach to energy efficiency. No technical or operational measure is better than its global contribution to the system efficiency. In order to achieve this, a Global Model was developed to simulate the energy losses in the railway system. The model was based on a 'plug & play' principle for each component or operational pattern:
- Open architecture for the whole sector;
- Ability to break a global target into manageable units;
- Help select the best combination of solutions for energy cost saving (during design, procurement and operation phases);
- Specific modules to assess the contribution of any new technical solution developed within Railenergy;
- The ability to convert all test or simulation results into a common unit for measurement of Life Cycle Cost
- Support investment decisions;
- 'WHAT-IF' function to accommodate new technology options and different load profiles.
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