Energy-saving Performance Evaluation of Urban Rail Transit: A Time Schedule Perspective

Improvement of the cost efficiency of urban rail transit system has been a research focus in the past decade. The energy-saving capability generally consists of two levels. The macro level determines the train operation mode and the time schedule according to the traffic demand. The micro level calculates and tracks the energy efficient target speed profiles of the trains. Different from conventional evaluation works about the energy-saving performance, in this paper the evaluation in the macro level is concerned using a time schedule perspective, and the utilization of the advanced energy efficient traction control solution in the micro level is integrated to predict the achievable energy conservation capability. The relationship between the derived performance level and the schedule-related factors are investigated, including the average speed and spatial-temporal distribution of the passenger flow. Field data from Beijing Metro is adopted to validate the presented solution in evaluating energy-saving performance of the practical time schedule. Results show its potential in improving the environmental friendly characteristics of the urban rail transit system in the field operation.