The report, Electrification of railway lines as part of the energy transition, outlines the best approaches to overhead electrification and outlines its advantages over battery and fuel cell technologies.
“In order to get significantly more traffic onto the rails much faster, so that we can achieve the climate protection goals in the transport sector, we must continue to electrify the German rail network in the coming years,” said Ingo Wortmann, president of VDV. “The overhead line is still the most efficient and cost-effective form of electrification.
“In practice, however, the construction of overhead lines fails due to lengthy and complicated planning and approval processes,” he continued. “We have therefore drawn up concrete proposals for a simplified and therefore faster electrification of railway lines. This means that the industry's goal of increasing the degree of electrification in the German rail network from the current 60% to at least 75% can be achieved in the coming years.”
Overhead lines over battery and fuel cells
In addition to the construction of overhead lines on routes that have not been electrified up to now, vehicles that are operated by batteries or fuel cells can also be used as an alternative. However, VDV experts believe that the overhead line has an advantage here, because vehicles with batteries or fuel cells are heavier and more technically complex than those that are efficiently powered directly from the overhead line.
In addition, the efficiency and thus the total energy requirement with electricity from the catenary is usually significantly cheaper. Furthermore, higher synergies can be leveraged with a uniformly electrified rail network. “But these types of drive can also make sense, depending on the route,” VDV noted.
Planning acceleration to electrify faster
The German federal government’s coalition agreement contains far-reaching goals for accelerating and simplifying planning and approval for construction projects. The proposals submitted by the VDV for the simplified construction of overhead lines fit exactly with these federal political considerations.
Among other things, the VDV proposes doing away with a preliminary assessment of the environmental compatibility and the usual planning approval requirement for electrification projects for railway lines in the future.
Development of modular systems for overhead lines
The association also sees further potential for improvement in the basic design of contact lines. In the future, the design of overhead lines must be better adapted to the respective requirements of the operational management of routes.
The VDV is currently developing a set of rules for economical overhead contact line systems on regional railway lines, for example with maximum speeds of up to 120 km/h and below, which, however, continues to consider the existing scope for the operation and equipment of regional railways.
“Our experts have dealt very intensively with specific suggestions for improvement to speed up planning for the electrification of the rail network. In addition, branch lines with a line speed of 80 km/h do not necessarily have to be electrified with contact lines that are also suitable for 200 km/h. We are happy to offer the present recommendations and measures, some of which are still being developed, to the political decision-makers at federal and state level as a contribution to the solution of the industry to quickly achieve more climate-friendly and efficient electric rail transport in Germany,” added Wortmann.