The potential of battery electric multiple units to replace diesel commuter trains and reduce fuel cost

Electric trains are ideal for commuter rail service with frequent stops. However, railway electrification is often applied to heavily-used routes where the density of traffic movement is sufficient to justify the high fixed costs. This is the main reason why there are still existing non-electrified commuter train routes being served by diesel trains. Tanzania Railways Limited operates a diesel commuter train on a 12 km route. Unfortunately, high fuel cost has been a challenge causing the train to operate at a loss. In this paper the potential of battery electric multiple units to replace diesel commuter trains and hence reduced fuel cost, has been studied. Compared to the Tanzania Railways Limited diesel commuter train, the battery electric multiple unit was found to reduce fuel cost by 79%.

[1]  Hong Kam Lo,et al.  An energy-efficient scheduling and speed control approach for metro rail operations , 2014 .

[2]  Ichiro Masatsuki.  Development of the battery charging system for the new hybrid train that combines feeder line and the storage battery , 2010, The 2010 International Power Electronics Conference - ECCE ASIA -.

[3]  Le Yi Wang,et al.  Butler–Volmer-Equation-Based Electrical Model for High-Power Lithium Titanate Batteries Used in Electric Vehicles , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[4]  Clive Roberts,et al.  Single-Train Trajectory Optimization , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

[5]  V A Profillidis,et al.  Railway Management and Engineering: Fourth Edition , 2016 .

[6]  Zhong Li,et al.  Niobium doped lithium titanate as a high rate anode material for Li-ion batteries , 2010 .

[7]  John Lowry,et al.  Electric Vehicle Technology Explained: Lowry/Electric Vehicle Technology Explained , 2012 .

[8]  David A. Crolla,et al.  Vehicle Powertrain Systems: Mashadi/Vehicle Powertrain Systems , 2012 .

[9]  Junya Kawamura,et al.  Development of battery system for railway vehicle , 2015, 2015 International Conference on Electrical Systems for Aircraft, Railway, Ship Propulsion and Road Vehicles (ESARS).

[10]  K. Shibanuma,et al.  Development of catenary and storage battery hybrid train system , 2012, 2012 Electrical Systems for Aircraft, Railway and Ship Propulsion.

[11]  Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong,et al.  Dynamic Simulation of Electric Bus Vehicle , 2014 .

[12]  M. Chymera,et al.  The calculation of train performance , 2014 .

[13]  Thanatchai Kulworawanichpong,et al.  Tram and trolleybus net traction energy consumption comparison , 2015, 2015 12th International Conference on Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ECTI-CON).

[14]  Ian Roberts,et al.  The weight of nations: an estimation of adult human biomass , 2012, BMC Public Health.

[15]  A. Eddahech,et al.  Determination of lithium-ion battery state-of-health based on constant-voltage charge phase , 2014 .

[16]  R. Barrero,et al.  Energy savings in public transport , 2008, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine.

[17]  N. Shiraki,et al.  Catenary and storage battery hybrid system for electric railcar series EV-E301 , 2014, 2014 International Power Electronics Conference (IPEC-Hiroshima 2014 - ECCE ASIA).

[18]  N. R. N. Idris,et al.  Modeling of lithium-ion battery using MATLAB/simulink , 2013, IECON 2013 - 39th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.