SuperRail–World-First HTS Cable to be Installed on a Railway Network in France

The SuperRail project consists in the development, manufacturing, installation and long-term operation of a high temperature superconducting (HTS) dc cable system for railway applications. The objectives of the project are to reinforce the power supply of the Montparnasse railway station in Paris, to increase the traffic and to participate to the reduction of CO
₂
emission. The saturated underground in the center of Paris does not allow to create new right of ways and only the HTS cable technology allows to carry the required power to railway tracks using the few available 100 mm conduits left. The HTS cable system must answer to a load chart with a high level of requirements corresponding to the connection of a substation to a set of railways tracks in very constraints areas. In the case of SuperRail, two 60-meter long 1.5 kV–3.5 kA HTS dc cables made of second-generation (2G) conductors will be installed in parallel. They need to sustain a 67 kA–200 ms short-circuit current. The cryogenic system is specifically designed for this project. It is based on a Reverse Turbo-Brayton cycle producing cooling power of about 1700 W at 67 K. This system intends to ensure low maintenance during life cycle, high reliability and would be scalable for future application (not limited to railways). In parallel, prospective studies are being carried out to simulate superconducting cables in railway networks, and to find original solutions to replace the current leads. SuperRail is a landmark project, as it is the first time that a dc HTS cable system is installed on a commercially operated railway network. The technologies developed have the potential to be reproduced in similar cases existing in large cities.