Analysis of the Timetable Impact on Energy Consumption of a Subway Line

This paper analyzes the timetable impact on the energy consumption of a subway line. In most timetable studies, simplified models are used and can lead to misestimation of the braking energy and thus the energy transfer between braking vehicles and accelerating vehicles. In this paper, specific attention is paid to the models of the vehicles, the traction power substation, and the rail supply network to enable an accurate estimation of the energy consumption. The energetic macroscopic representation formalism is used to organize the models of the subsystems so they have the right interactions. The developed model is validated by experimental tests on a real subway line. The error on the global energy consumption is lower than 2.2%. The model is then employed to examine the influence of the vehicle time interval on energy consumption. A 10-second adjustment in this time interval can result in a substantial 22% decrease in energy consumption for the analyzed real subway line.