Multi-modal battery-operated trains on partially electrified lines: A case study on some regional lines in Italy

A full electrification of many local railway lines is often not feasible or sustainable in terms of construction and maintenance costs or alternatively for the presence of additional constraints and limitations deriving from environmental or infrastructural limitations. Battery Operated Powertrains or other kind of hybrid solutions are currently proposed as sustainable alternatives to internal combustion engines for the propulsion of rolling stock on non-electrified lines. In this work, the authors propose the adoption of a partial electrification of lines to assure higher performances and reliability of battery-operated rolling stock designed to be recharged and feed using standard technologies such as pantographs gathering power from suspended catenaries. This innovative solution is designed for a benchmark test vehicle inspired from an existing one and simulated considering some possible scenario of application corresponding to some existing railway lines in Italy.