Railway power systems operating at a nominal frequency below the frequency of the public grid (50 or 60 Hz) are special in many senses. One is that they exist in a just few countries around the world. However, for these countries such low frequency railways are a critical part of their infrastructure.

The number of published dynamic models as well as stability studies regarding low frequency railways is small, compared to corresponding publications regarding 50 Hz/60 Hz public grids. Since there are two main type of low frequency railways; synchronous and asynchronous, it makes the number of available useful publications even smaller. One important reason for this is the small share of such grids on a global scale, resulting in less research and development man hours spent on low frequency grids.

This work presents an open model of a (synchronous-synchronous) rotary frequency converter for electromechanical stability studies in the phasor domain, based on established synchronous machine models. The proposed model is designed such that it can be used with the available data for a rotary frequency converter.

The behaviour of the model is shown through numerical electromechanical transient stability simulations of two example cases, where a fault is cleared, and the subsequent oscillations are shown. The first example is a single-fed catenary section and the second is doubly-fed catenary section.

Network operational planning aims to provide smart and cost effective solutions to postpone conventional transmission and sub-transmission expansion. One emerging measure of improving the efficiency of power lines utilization is Dynamic Line Rating (DLR). DLR has to deal with different uncertainties ranging from production and consumption to meteorological variabilities. This paper presents the application of DLR from operational planning viewpoints and reviews relevant works. It also addresses DLR protection and challenges that the power system has to cope with.

This paper continues the pursuit of getting a deeper understanding regarding the transient stability of low-frequency AC railway power systems operated at 16 2/3 Hz synchronously to the public grid. The focus is set on the impact of different load models. A simple constant-current load model is proposed and compared to a previously proposed and studied load model in which the train’s active power is regulated.

The study and comparison is made on exactly the same cases as and grid as with the already proposed and more advanced load model. The railway grid is equipped with a low-frequency AC high-voltage transmission line which is subjected to a fault. The study is limited to railways being fed by different distributions of RFC (Rotary Frequency Converter) types. Both AT (auto transformer) and BT (booster transformer) catenaries are considered.

The RFC dynamic models are essentially Anderson-Fouad models of two synchronous machines coupled mechanically by their rotors being connected to the same shaft.

The differences in load behaviour between the proposed constant-current load model and the previously proposed and studied voltage-dependent active power load model are analyzed and described in the paper.

Most low-frequency AC single-phase railway grids have both power-electronic based Static Frequency Converters (SFCs) and electrical-machine based Rotary Frequency Converters (RFCs) connecting them to the three-phase public grid.

Already today, in some such grids, a majority of the power conversion is from SFCs. As railway traffic (and thus power demand) increases, more SFCs are installed for capacity increase, while the number of RFCs remains (almost) constant. Thus, the share of SFCs is expected to increase, and the ratio of installed rotational inertia over installed power to decrease.

This paper investigates how different shares of SFCs affect the transient stability of low-frequency AC railway grids when having a mix of RFCs and SFCs converting three-phase AC power to single-phase AC power. Results from numerical simulations of the interactions that occur between converters when and after the grid is subject to a fault are presented.

The numerical studies show that with an increased share of SFCs there is an increased oscillatory behavior, for example in the voltage magnitude and active power after fault clearance.

Converter-fed railway power systems traditionally use high voltage AC overhead transmission lines in the railway grid for increased loadability. An increased resistance to overhead high voltage AC transmission lines, may motivate cables as one alternative for the future. The focus of this paper is to compare a non-strengthened system with two cable solutions for comparing loadability, voltages, and reactive powers for different levels of load scaling. The studies confirmed that the obstacle of reactive power produced in lowly utilized cables is, even if less significant for low frequency AC, still present. A simplified load model is used representing trains with VSC-converters and three-phase motors as purely active loads regardless of motoring or regenerating. A previous study has been done on thyristor-based trains. The voltage levels while regenerating are higher than in the thyristor-train case study. Besides that the loadability for motoring and regenerating is higher with modern VSC-trains.

This paper continues the pursuit of getting a deeper understanding regarding the transient stability of low-frequency AC railway power systems operated at 16 2/3 Hz that are synchronously connected to the public grid. Here, the focus is set on such grids with a low-frequency AC high-voltage transmission line subject to a fault. The study here is limited to railways being fed by different distributions of Rotary Frequency Converter (RFC) types. Both auto transformer (AT) and booster transformer (BT) catenaries are considered. No mixed model configurations in the converter stations (CSs) are considered in this study. Therefore, only interactions between RFCs in different CSs and between RFCs, the fault, and the load can take place in this study. The RFC dynamic models are essentially two Anderson-Fouad models of synchronous machines coupled mechanically by their rotors being connected to the same mechani- cal shaft. Besides the new cases studied, also a new voltage-dependent active power load model is presented and used in this study.

Using low frequency High Voltage Transmission systems (HV-T) in parallel with the catenary systemstrengthens the railway system by reducing the total impedance of the railway grid. A consequence ofthe reduced impedance is that converter stations are electrically closer to each other.Inside a converter station, different types of Rotary Frequency Converters (RFCs) are used. It is not wellexplored how different RFCs behaves and interacts with each other during and after a large disturbance,like a short circuit.The dynamics of an RFC are modelled by using the Andersson-Fouad model of a synchronous machine.The study presented in this paper investigates interactions inside and between converter stations, withdifferent types of RFC, for an HV-T system in parallel with a Booster Transformer catenary system.The numerical simulation results show, for instance, that the main power oscillation take place inside aconverter station with mixed configuration of RFC type after fault clearance.

One method of strengthening low frequency AC railway grids is to upgrade Booster Transformer (BT) catenary systems, to Auto Transformer (AT) catenary systems. An AT catenary system has lower equivalent impedance compared to a BT system. Thus, an upgrade makes the existing converter stations electrically closer.

Converter stations may have different types of Rotary Frequency Converters (RFCs) installed in them, and it is not well explored how different RFCs behaves and interact during and after a large disturbance.

Using the Anderson-Fouad model of synchronous machines to describe the dynamics of RFCs, several case studies have been performed through numerical simulations. The studies investigate the interactions within and between converter stations constituted with different RFC types, for BT as well AT catenary systems.

The numerical studies reveal that replacing BT with AT catenary systems, results in a more oscillatory system behaviour. This is seen for example in the power oscillations between and inside converter stations, after fault clearance.

In present-day railway power supply systems using an AC frequency lower than the one in the public power system of 50/60 Hz, high voltage overhead transmission lines are used as one measure of strengthening the railway power supply system grids. This option may be economically beneficial, compared to strengthening the grid purely by increasing the density of converter stations or increasing the cross section areas of the overhead catenary wires. High voltage AC transmission lines in the railway power supply system allow larger distances between converter stations than would otherwise be possible for a given amount of train traffic. Moreover, the introduction of AC transmission lines implies reduced line losses and reduced voltage level fluctuations at the catenary for a given amount of train traffic. However, due to the increased public and government resistance for additional overhead high voltage AC transmission lines in general, different alternatives will be needed for the future improvements and strengthening of railway power systems. For a more sustainable transport sector, the share and amount of railway traffic needs to increase, in which case such a strengthening becomes inevitable. Earlier, usage of VSC-HVDC transmission cables has been proposed as one alternative to overhead AC transmission lines. One of the main benefits with VSC-HVDC transmission is that control of power flows in the railway power systems is easier and that less converter capacity may be needed. Technically, VSC-HVDC transmission for railway power systems is a competitive solution as it offers a large variety of control options. However, there might be other more economical alternatives reducing the overall impedance in the railway power system. In public power systems with the frequency of 50/60 Hz, an excess of reactive power production in lowly utilized cables imposes an obstacle in replacing overhead transmission lines with cables. In low frequency AC railway power system, the capacitive properties are less significant allowing longer cables compared to 50/60 Hz power systems. Moreover, in converter-fed railways, some kind of reactive compensation will automatically be applied during low-load. At each converter station, voltage control is already present following the railway operation tradition. Therefore, in this paper, we propose AC cables as a measure of strengthening low-frequency AC railway power systems. The paper compares the electrical performances of two alternative reinforcement cable solutions with the base case of no reinforcement. The options of disconnecting or toggling the cables at low load as well as the automatic reactive compensation by converter voltage control are considered. Losses and voltage levels are compared for the different solutions. Investment costs and other relevant issues are discussed.

Railway electrification is experiencing a very important transformation process today. The need of increasing its capacity has evidenced the drawbacks of conventional systems of dealing with the higher power required, whilst maintaining reasonable costs. Furthermore, the current trend undertaken by electrical systems towards smarter grids involves to rethink carefully the direction of evolution of these systems. However, the different technical progress at the time of railway electrification, and the particular historical and economic characteristics of the countries, have led to a great variety of configurations that require different solutions. The first main objective of this article is to classify and describe the principal electrical railway power supply systems existing and the most important proposals for their improvement found in the literature. The second main objective is to make a comparison of all presented systems based on economic and technical criteria capable of assessing their suitability and future projection. The right choice of the feeding system is decisive for the development of more competitive, efficient and reliable railway systems.