Direct Measurement of Power Quality Over Railway Networks With Results of a 16.7-Hz Network

The measurement and monitoring of power quality on electric railway networks is a complex problem with several practical constraints. A digital measurement system was designed and implemented to perform the required task on board different locomotives across several European Union countries. Ease of installation and operation, and robustness are the main requirements. The example of the Swiss alternating-current 16.7-Hz supply network is used to derive information on the pantograph voltage spectrum and its statistical properties and on the visualization and postprocessing methods.