An Investigation on Recuperation of Regenerative Braking Energy in DC Railway Electrification System

Electrified rails with the recuperation of regenerative braking energy offer a higher energy efficiency, lower carbon footprint, and lower operation and maintenance costs as compared to that of the system without recuperation of regenerative braking energy. However, due to some technical constraints, sometimes the regenerative braking energy needs to be dissipated via resistor banks to ensure system stability. This paper aims to investigate the amount of regenerative braking energy that can be recovered under various train operating conditions such as difference station distance, train speed, track elevation, and loading conditions. A rail power supply and distribution system for Malaysia's MRT Line 2 is modeled using ETAP - eTraX software. The dynamic behavior of the trains has been included in the simulation model to improve the accuracy of the study. The operating conditions with the highest amount of regenerative braking energy have been identified in this study.