Optimal Strategy to Innovate and Reduce energy consumption In urban rail Systems

01.03.2012 - 30.09.2015
Forschungsförderungsprojekt
For most transport modes, energy reduction strategies can be effectively formulated at the level of the vehicle or vessel. New technologies, such as alternative fuels, innovative propulsion systems or lightweight materials, can be introduced to a vehicle and the direct energy savings can be readily quantified. However, such an approach cannot be employed for urban rail systems as such. Thus, for urban rail operators it is not sufficient to consider only the energy performance of urban rail vehicles. It is also necessary to consider the energy associated with the infrastructure, as well as the influence of the mode of operation. Moreover, different aspects of energy are to be considered; electrical energy cannot be managed, without due consideration of thermal aspects too. In other words, urban rail systems are large distributed systems and their energy consumption is characterised by a wide range of inter-dependent factors involving the transmission, use, and exchange of energy in different forms. This means that it is often extremely difficult to assess the net benefits of introducing new energy saving technologies. For example, whilst a given new technology might yield improvements in certain respects, these yields do not add simply add up because technologies or solutions can also interfere with one another; furthermore, what is good and effective for some European cities might not be of any interest for others. It is clear that the potential recovery rate for urban rail systems is much higher (30%-35%) compared to main line rail systems due to the frequent stopping/acceleration operational cycle. Energy savings so far have mainly been achieved in more efficient traction energy through the acquisition of new rolling stock, but this improvement is offset by increasingly demanding requirements from the customer in terms of overall travel comfort, escalators, HVAC systems, etc. What is needed, and what has been lacking up to now, is a systematic evaluation of energy consumption in the entire urban rail system, including vehicles, infrastructure and operation. This is essential to support environmental performance comparison, standardisation and decision making. Rather than focussing on specific technologies or individual vehicles, it is imperative that a system-level approach be taken if significant progress on energy reduction is to be made. OSIRIS will address these issues through the development of a global approach to benchmarking, simulation, optimisation and the experimentation of new energy saving solutions for urban rail systems.

Personen

Projektleiter_in

Institut

Grant funds

  • European Commission (EU) FP7 I.7 COOPERATION Transport (including Aeronautics) 7.Rahmenprogramm für Forschung European Commission - Framework Programme European Commission Call identifier FP7-SST-2011-RTD-1 Application number 284868

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • Efficient Utilisation of Material Resources: 10%
  • Mathematical and Algorithmic Foundations: 90%

Schlagwörter

DeutschEnglisch
Städtischer Schienenverkehrurban rail system
Energieeffizienzenergy efficiency
Modellbildung und SimulationModelling and Simulation

Publikationen