Colas Rail Italia, leader of the joint venture with ABB S.p.A., has been awarded the contract for the design, build and testing of an innovative traction power substation for the purpose of regulating the voltage and storage of the braking energy of trains at the Forlì substation.
The project has a strong innovative and sustainable character and involves the use of the Voltage Source Converter (VSC) technology for the conversion and re-use of the power generated by trains during braking to ensure that the energy required to supply the 3kV DC railway lines is managed more efficiently.
A particularly advanced system that has already been successfully applied abroad on similar systems, but for the first time in Italy in a 3kV DC railway system.
Details
LOCATION
Italy
CUSTOMER
Rete Ferroviaria Italiana
TIME
October 2019 – October 2022
Highlights
- Greater sustainability of railway infrastructure
- Installation for the first time of an active conversion system for 3kV DC substation
- Increased energy efficiency through train braking energy recovery and storage
- Use of supercapacitor storage system
- Improvement of the operation of electric traction units through the possibility of adjusting the contact line voltage
- Development of a special project to allow the transportability of the recovery unit even in places other than substations, maximising energy efficiency in relation to the actual traffic on the various railway lines.
