A Survey on Energy-Efficient Train Operation for Urban Rail Transit

TLDR

Energy‑efficient urban rail transit is increasingly important due to rising energy costs and environmental concerns, with timetable optimization and energy‑efficient driving being the main methods that reduce tractive energy by synchronizing acceleration and braking and optimizing speed profiles. This paper surveys energy‑efficient train operation methods for urban rail transit. The survey first outlines the typical energy consumption distribution of urban rail trains, then reviews the literature on timetable optimization and energy‑efficient driving. The review concludes that jointly optimizing timetable and speed profile is a promising direction for future research.

Abstract

Due to rising energy prices and environmental concerns, the energy efficiency of urban rail transit has attracted much attention from both researchers and practitioners in recent years. Timetable optimization and energy-efficient driving, as two mainly used train operation methods in relation to the tractive energy saving, make major contributions in reducing the energy consumption that has been studied for a long time. Generally speaking, timetable optimization synchronizes the accelerating and braking actions of trains to maximize the utilization of regenerative energy, and energy-efficient driving optimizes the speed profile at each section to minimize the tractive energy consumption. In this paper, we present a fully comprehensive survey on energy-efficient train operation for urban rail transit. First, a general energy consumption distribution of urban rail trains is described. Second, the current literature on timetable optimization and energy-efficient driving is reviewed. Finally, according to the review work, it is concluded that the integrated optimization method jointly optimizing the timetable and speed profile has become a new tendency and ought to be paid more attention in future research.