Development of an Electrical Model for Multiple Trains Running on a DC 4th Rail Track

The electrical modelling of rail tracks with multiple running trains is complex due to the difficulties of solving the power flow. The trains' positions, speed, and acceleration change instantly which makes the system nonlinear. Additionally, the nonreversible substations are another reason for the nonlinearity of the system. These nonlinear characteristics of the rail system make the power flow analysis more complicated. In this paper, a simple method for modelling electric railways has been used to avoid complicated algorithms to solve the power flow. The method depends mainly on modelling the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the full rail track system using the simulation tool Simscape, which has been developed by MathWorks. The model is able to provide the track voltage and also the trains voltages. Through the implementation of Energy Storage Systems (ESS) it will be possible to improve the energy efficiency of electric railways by effectively controlling the rail track voltage and the trains contact voltages.