Rail Systems Get Powered Up

Light rail and streetcar systems have been significantly growing in the United States since the year 2016. There’ve been approximately 18 new systems that have come online or been expanded within the past four years. This rail throughout the United States is working to expand mass transit industries and ensuring that there is a more efficient level of energy consumption for light rail systems in the US market. 

Rail systems are seeing significant improvement with efficiency due to energy storage. Transit agencies are more interested in energy storage than ever before and using energy storage is a way to make locomotives and streetcars much more energy-efficient. Energy storage systems combine new battery technology and supercapacitors to make sure that the traction power substation can capture energy from braking operations and trains and deliver it back into electrical power through a battery system.

Making use of this lost energy could have unheralded economic benefits including the chance to grid-tie locomotives back into the energy system or deliver immediate demand response throughout the entire grid. The New York Metropolitan transportation authority will be launching a new pilot project using these batteries. The pilot project aims to use stored energy to deliver savings at peak energy times throughout the city. This could reduce the overall cost of energy for many of New York’s residents simply through their transit system. 

Rail system batteries could lead to new transfer technology for the electric infrastructure. Their series of onboard energy system batteries could work at optimizing auxiliary tasks throughout the grid, powering fare ports, and more.

Rail systems with batteries can operate admission free and on a more intelligent energy management system. This new technology represents the future of the locomotive industry and the most efficient reinjection of power into the electrical network. 

This post was written by Justin Tidd, Director at Swartz Engineering. For nearly a half a century, Swartz Engineering has been at the forefront of industry safety. They are a family-owned company specializing in power distribution for the electrical industry. They are the leading manufacturer of E house substations. Our design ensures maximum flexibility for excellent reliability and a high return on investment. ( Focus on using this one )