In2Rail: Innovative Intelligent Rail

Challenge

Nowadays demand for the growth in transport and in railway sector is increasing more and more. In particular, European railways have to deliver increased productivity to fulfil the growth demand across all modes in freight and passenger services by 80% and 50% respectively by 2050.

In2Rail aims at the optimisation of the design of core infrastructure elements as well as the improvement of the management of the railway system through three technical sub-projects:

• Smart Infrastructure, which aims at developing an intelligent and reliable infrastructure through efficient design and new materials, novel working methods and smarter use of data
• Intelligent Mobility Management (I2M), which aims at developing an ICT environment to support all transport operational systems
• Power Supply and Energy Management Systems, that aims at designing a future AC Rail Power Supply System with minimised energy losses and optimised loads and implementing an efficient energy management system allowing understanding of energy flows within a railway system, a reduction of the energy consumption and cost, optimised asset management and enabling better use of the railway capacity.

Approach

In2Rail is characterised by an holistic approach; the main objective of RINA involvement in the project was related to the design of an open system dedicated to the fine mapping of energy flows within the whole Railway System.

RINA activities in the project were mainly related to the definition of the architecture for the Smart Metering for Railway Distributed Energy Resource Management System (RDERMS).

Moreover, we contributed in the definition of the technical specifications and in the identification of the interfaces and communication between the different involved on-board and wayside subsystems. The User Application needs and their definition are also included; relevant user groups and functional users needs for applications have been identified.

Finally, our activities were also dedicated to the preparation of the planning, the Product Breakdown Structure (PBS) and the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

Conclusion

In2Rail contributed to lay the foundations for further work in the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking and to achieve the objectives of the Transport White Paper.

In particular, In2Rail impacts are relevant to surge of the utilization of capacity; this was achieved by increasing of 20% of the line capacity, by allowing all railway stakeholders to become active energy decision makers and contribute to enhance the line operation timetables. Accurate energy measurement leads also to energy savings and predicted energy usage that increases capacity without upgrading the electrical infrastructure.

Regarding the reduction in the recurrent costs of rail operation, main results are relevant to the use of intelligent energy measurement tools, reduction of transmission losses (by up to 50%), improved management of parked train lighting and air conditioning/heating, and predictive maintenance, by continuous monitoring of energy consumption variations from expected values.

Concerning savings in investment costs (up to 30%), main achievements are achieved by the reduction of installed power, whilst achieving the same capacity with increased reliability.

Project Consortium:

1 Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (Project Coordinator) 2 Alstom Transport S.A. 3 Ansaldo Sts S.P.A. 4 Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB 5 Rete Ferroviaria Italiana 6 Mer Mec Spa 7 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 8 Strukton Rail BV 9 Trafikverket - TRV 10 Thales Communications & Security Sas 11 Union Des Industries Ferroviaires Europeennes - Unife 12 Acciona Infraestructuras S.A. 13 Administrador De Infraestructuras Ferroviarias 14 Azd Praha Sro 15 Caf Signalling S.L 16 Emte S.L.U. 17 RINA Consulting 18 Deutsche Bahn Ag 19 Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft - Und Raumfahrt Ev 20 Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft - Und Raumfahrt Ev 21 Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft - Und Raumfahrt Ev 22 Evoleo Technologies Lda 23 Fcc Construccion Sa 24 Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung Ev 25 Hacon Ingenieurgesellschaft Mbh 26 Indra Sistemas S.A. 27 Ingenieria Y Economia Del Transporte S.A. 28 Lulea Tekniska Universitet 29 Politecnico Di Milano 30 Fondation De Cooperation Scientifique 31 Railenium 32 Societe Nationale Des Chemins De Fer Francais 33 Systra Sa 34 Universidade Do Porto 35 Universita Degli Studi Di Roma La Sapienza 36 Universita Degli Studi Di Genova 37 The University Of Huddersfield 38 University Of Southampton 39 Kompetenzzentrum - Das Virtuelle Fahrzeug, Forschungsgesellschaft Mbh 40 Embedded Rail Technology Ltd 41 Chalmers Tekniska Hoegskola Ab 42 Izt Institut Fuer Zukunftsstudien Und Technologiebewertung Gmbh 43 Loughborough University 44 3deling Sp Zoo 45 Neelogy Sa 46 Institut De Recherche Technologique Systemx 47 Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen 48 University Of Bristol 49 The University Of Birmingham 50 The University Of Nottingham 51 Obb-Infrastruktur Ag 52 European Federation Of Railways Trackworks Contractors 53 Vossloh Cogifer Sa 54 Gridnet S.A. 55 Tata Steel France Rail Sa 56 Sygnity Spolka Akcyjna 57 Dotvision