Traction power systems for electrified railways: evolution, state of the art, and future trends

Abstract Traction power systems (TPSs) play a vital role in the operation of electrified railways. The transformation of conventional railway TPSs to novel structures is not only a trend to promote the development of electrified railways toward high-efficiency and resilience but also an inevitable requirement to achieve carbon neutrality target. On the basis of sorting out the power supply structures of conventional AC and DC modes, this paper first reviews the characteristics of the existing TPSs, such as weak power supply flexibility and low-energy efficiency. Furthermore, the power supply structures of various TPSs for future electrified railways are described in detail, which satisfy longer distance, low-carbon, high-efficiency, high-reliability and high-quality power supply requirements. Meanwhile, the application prospects of different traction modes are discussed from both technical and economic aspects. Eventually, this paper introduces the research progress of mixed-system electrified railways and traction power supply technologies without catenary system, speculates on the future development trends and challenges of TPSs and predicts that TPSs will be based on the continuous power supply mode, employing power electronic equipment and intelligent information technology to construct a railway comprehensive energy system with renewable energy.