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Table 1
48
System Type
DC
World Railway
Electrification Systems
Table 1 shows various feeding systems
around the world and the electrification
distances.
The history of electric railways dates back
to 1835 when T. Davenport fabricated a
model electric car powered by voltaic
cells and put it on public exhibition. The
first practical electric cars debuted in 1879
when a 150-V dc, 2.2-kW, bipolar motor
pulled three passenger cars at a maximum
speed of 12 km/h at the Trades Exhibition
in Berlin. In 1881, Siemens Halske built
the worlds first electric railway in
Lichterfelde marking the first passenger
electric railway.
Electric operation is often preferred on
Japan1
km
Main Countries
915
5,106
1,500 V to 3,000 V
(Mostly 1,500 V)
10,484
61
22,138
78,276
33
245
3,000 V or more
(Mostly 3,000 V)
Single- 50 Hz Less than 20 kV
phase
60 Hz 20 kV
AC
3,741
22
3,741
2,037
12
84,376
36
50 kV
1,173
25 Hz 11 kV to 13 kV
1,469
120
Switzerland
35,461
15
43
Switzerland, France
3,668
Kazakhstan2, France
25 kV
16.66 Hz
11 kV
15 kV
Three-phase AC
30
Unknown
Total
Notes:
km
1
2
17,207
Sources: (1) Railway Electrical Engineering Association of Japan, vol.8, no.10, pp.35, Oct. 1997
(2) Ibid., vol.8, no.11, pp. 7778 and pp. 8183, Nov. 1997
Shinkansen
AC, Conventional railways
DC, Conventional railways
Fin
an
cia
l
Re
str
uc
tur
dL
ing
on
Pla
gR
n
an
ge
Pl
an
3r
6,000
ye
Electrification
ratio
53.9%
ar
Pl
lan
rP
ea
an
-y
Conventional
railways
9,897.3 km
Conventional railways
AC electrification
3,682.3 km
5-
4,000
t5
20
Shinkansen
2,036.5 km
40
8,000
JN
R1
0-y
ear
1s
60
10,000
Electrified Distance
2n
12,000
History of
Railway Electrification in Japan
2,000
Conventional railways
DC electrification
6,215.0 km
nce
dista
rified
Elect
tion ratio
Electrifica
0
1906 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
Year
Note:
* Including Japanese Government Railways, Japanese National Railways (JNR, from June 1949
to March 1987) and JRs, but excluding private railways
Shinkansen in 1972. Today, the AT feeding system is the standard for all AC electric railways in Japan.
Figure 1 shows the history of railway electrification in Japan from the era of the Japanese Government Railways until the
present JRs. Figure 2 maps the various
systems in Japan. Roughly speaking, the
1500-V dc system is used on the conventional railways in Honshu (Kanto, Tokai,
Kansai, and Chugoku districts) and
Shikoku, while the 20-kV ac system is
mainly used in Hokkaido, northern
Honshu (Tohoku and Hokuriku districts),
and Kyushu. All shinkansen use the 25kV ac system. In contrast, most private
railways rely on the 1500-V dc system,
while the 600- or 750-V dc system is used
by subways and some other railways.
49
Technology
Conventional
Railways
Aomori
DC
AC
Shinkansen
Asahikawa
Akita
Otaru
Morioka
Kushiro
Muroran
Murakami
Niigata
Hakodate
Nishi Izumo
Kokura
Hakata
Sendai
Tottori
Kinosaki
Fukushima
Kanazawa
Fukui
Nagano
Kuroiso
Hiroshima
Fukuyama
Iyoshi
Sasebo
Oita
Nagasaki
Yamagata
amagata
Itoigawa
Kochi
Kumamoto
Okayama Himeji
Himeji
Kyoto
Nagahama
Gifu
Shin-Osaka
Utsunomiya
Kofu
Nagoya
Tokushima
Shizuoka
Omiya
Toride
Tokyo
Wakayama
Shingu
Kagoshima
Miyazaki
DC feeding system
Figure 3 Structure of a DC Feeding System
12-pulse Rectifier
6-pulse Rectifier
Three-phase AC
3-phase
AC
Three-phase AC
3-phase
AC
Transformer
Transformer
Rectifier
1,500 V dc
High-speed
circuit breaker
+
1,500 V dc
Rectifier
Sectioning
post
Feeder
Contact
wire
Electric car
50
Rail
Distribution
transformer
3-phase 6.6 kV ac bus
Transformer
Station facilities,
etc.
Transformer
Rectifier
Harmonic
filter
Regenerative
inverter
1,500 V dc
Regenerative car
AC feeding system
Since three-phase power from the power
utility is converted to two single phases,
to ensure that the current is as close as
possible to the three lines of the threephase side, one separate phase is fed to
each of the overhead up and down tracks.
Various methods can be used to connect
the feeding transformers. Today, the Scott
connected transformer (Fig. 5) is used to
receive extra-high tension, and the modified wood-bridge connected transformer
(Fig. 6) is used to receive extra-high voltage, with the neutral point directly
grounded.
Figure 7 shows the composition of an AC
feeding circuit. It includes feeding AC
sub-stations, sectioning posts for feed sectioning, and sub-sectioning posts for limited sectioning, all located along the
tracks. The feeding sub-stations feed the
two single phases converted from the
three-phase source by a feeding transformer in the opposite track directions,
ST
Teaser transformer
B phase
O
F (N)
U
W
U
W
Earth
A phase
F (N)
Sectioning
SubSubpost
sectioning
sectioning
post
post
SP
SSP
Feeding
sub-station
SS
SSP
Down track
Up track
: Circuit breaker
: Air section
: Disconnecting switch
: Phase-to-phase changeover section
51
Technology
Table 2
Feeding
system
Conventional
railways
Shinkansen
Conventional
railways
Shinkansen
BT
22
30 to 50
AT
44
60
90 to 110
20 to 60
Coaxial
30
10
BT feeding system
Figure 8 shows the composition of a BT
feeding circuit. A BT is installed every 4
km on the contact wire to boost the return circuit current on the negative line.
NF capacitor
Boosting
transformer
(BT)
V
I
Boosting
wire
I
Rail
Electric car
Figure 9
In the AT feeding system, the feeding voltage of the sub-station is twice the voltage
supplied to the electric car. An AT, at
every 10 km along the track, cuts the voltage to the overhead-line voltage as necessary. This is very effective in reducing
inductive interference in telecommunications lines. Figure 9 shows the composition of an AT feeding system, and the
photograph below shows an external view
of an AT designed for shinkansen.
In Japan, the AT is designed with a turn ratio of 1:1 and the sub-station feeding voltage is twice the overhead-line voltage. This
system is ideal for high-speed and largecapacity electric cars because there are no
large voltage drops nor arcing sections.
Sub-station
AT
2V
I/2
V
Negative
feeder
Contact
wire
BT section
AT feeding system
tive feeder to compensate for the reactance and reduce the amount of current
intercepted by the pantograph, thereby reducing arcing, and also helping to prevent voltage drop.
Auto transformer
AT
AT
Contact
wire
I
CPW
Electric car
Rail
Feeder
Protective
wire
External view of AT (60/30 kV, 7500 kVA)
52
(RTRI)
I
V
Electric car
Contact wire
I
Rail
Negative feeder
DC feeding system
In a DC feeding system, typically, the current for the electric car increases smoothly,
but a fault current always increases
abruptly. A I-type fault selective relay at
sub-stations is used to detect faults based
on this difference.
AC feeding system
In an AC feeding system, faults are detected by a combination of a distance relay and an AC I-type fault selective relay
(Figure 11). The distance relay monitors
the overhead line impedance from the
sub-station and recognizes an event as a
fault when the impedance falls within a
predetermined rectangle on the impedance plane. As with DC systems, the AC
I-type fault selective relay detects the
change in current.
Furthermore, locators are used to mark fault
points based on the current distribution,
so any fault can be corrected promptly.
ca
tro
Reactance
Catenary system
Distance relay
n
co
or g
t
is
yr erin
Th ow
P
l relay
SP
SS
Resistance
SS: Sub-station
SP: Sectioning post
53
Technology
18.0 m
5.0 m
18.0 m
5.0 m
50 m
Shinkansen
1.8 m
9.0 m
65.0 m
German high-speed line
15 m
15 m
2 3.5
3.5 4.5 4.5
4.5 4.5
63 m
1 m 6.0 m
3.5 2
3.5
1.4 m
Table 3
Item
Germany
TGV Atlantic
Italy
Catenary type
Simple
50
63
5.0
4.95
4.95
5.3
4.85
1,500
1,400
1,400
1,800
1,400
Suspended
St 180 mm2
(1.450 kg/m)
Bz 65 mm2
(0.59 kg/m)
Bz 65 mm2
(0.59 kg/m)
Bz11 70 mm2
(0.63 kg/m)
Auxiliary suspended
Cu 150 mm2
(1.375 kg/m)
Bz 35 mm2
Bz11 35 mm2
(0.31 kg/m)
(0.30 kg/m)
Contact wire
Cu 170 mm2
(1.511 kg/m)
Cu 150 mm2
(1.33 kg/m)
Wire
grade
4.34
1.65
1.92
1.71
2.77 2
24,500
14,000
14,000
15,000
18,400
14,700
14,700
14,000
20,000
15,000
14,700
(53,900)
(28,000)
(34,000)
(30,000)
(33,100 2)
355
414
441
424
376
(train speed/
wave propagation velocity)
0.68, 0.76
(= 240, 270/355)
0.65 (= 270/414)
0.68 (= 300/441)
0.59 (=250/424)
0.66 (= 250/376)
Pre-sag
None
1/1,000
1/1,000
1/1,000
1/1,000
54
France
TGV Southeast
(RTRI)
55
Technology
Protective plate
Third rail
(conducting steel rail)
Insulator
Running rails
Third-rail conductor
Tensionless
Insulator
T-shaped mount
Long ear
6 m max.
Contact wire
410 mm
56
(RTRI)
3 mm
3 mm
3 mm
minium-clad steel.
The messenger wire is often made of galvanized stranded-steel wire for economy
and high mechanical strength. Harddrawn copper stranded wires are also used
in many sections requiring larger current
capacity.
Messenger wire fixtures require highstrength and corrosion-resistant materials,
such as stainless steel and copper alloy.
Aluminium alloy is preferred where
(RTRI)
57
Technology
(RTRI)
(RTRI)
Robotics
Overhead line systems require dangerous
work at height. A self-powered feeding
line robot with eddy current sensors has
been developed and put into operation
to locate cross-sectional area loss due to
corrosion.
Kanji Wako
Mr Kanji Wako is Director in Charge of Research and Development at RTRI. He joined JNR in 1961 after graduating in engineering from Tohoku University. He is the supervising editor for this
series on Railway Technology Today.
Yasu Oura
Yoshifumi Mochinaga
Hiroki Nagasawa
Dr Hiroki Nagasawa joined RTRI in 1972 after graduating in mechanical engineering from Tohoku University. He is engaged in development of current collection systems, especially overhead line
materials. He obtained his Ph.D. in tribology from Tohoku University
in 1996.
58