The use of battery-powered electric commuter trains instead of those which are propelled by internal combustion engines on only partially (or non) electrified railway lines can save considerable amounts of energy and can avoid exhaust emissions to a large extent with comparatively low investment costs. As path to these goals, the railway line, the operating and the trains are modeled for a particularly interesting, real-life example. Then, for the generated models, it is shown how the energy demands of model-compliant (battery) electric commuter trains can be calculated and how their energy storages can be designed. The models and the procedure can also be applied for a large number of comparable dimensioning cases when defining further railway lines, operating and commuter train models, corresponding parameterization as well as the occasionally necessary addition of slope and curvature resistances. The calculation of energy demands and the design of energy storages, however, show that there are a large number of different alternatives for technical specifications as well as decisions relevant to energy efficiency and business management, too. To determine the most suitable solutions, further measures such as the investigation of the effects of intelligent modifications to the underlying models, the development and implementation of computer-aided simulations as well as the construction and testing of real (battery) electric commuter trains make sense.
Design of the Energy Storages for a (Battery) Electric Commuter Train