Transport Research Arena 2020 (TRA 2020), Helsinki, Finlandiya, 27 - 30 Nisan 2020
Controlling rail voltage especially in DC electrified railways is an important issue for safety and economic reasons. A new possibility has started to arise in controlling the rail voltages with the increased usage of current limiting function in the railway vehicles. In some cases, it could actually be possible to isolate (weaken) catenary/3rd rail of a problematic area in order to reduce the rail voltages in that area. The vehicles in the weakened area would withdraw less current, resulting in less rail voltages. This idea forms the departure point of this paper. The paper covers the advantages and disadvantages of different techniques that can be used in controlling rail voltages and uses a realistic case study to illustrate the results with the help of a rail system simulation tool.