Energy

Article 3
Economical driving: traction on the front line
Rail & Recherche n°40 - July/August/September 2006

Learning how to save energy with economical driving is an important part of driver training. A train is heavy, and controlling its speed has an impact on energy consumption as well as on the wear of equipment. Drivers have a chart with indications at regular intervals of how fast they are supposed to be going as well as an indicator that tells them when the accumulated kinetic energy is sufficient to maintain the desired speed.
“Experience plays a big part”says Fabien Maitrot, a traction auditor. He also points out that the driving cannot be separated from other aspects of train operations. For example, ensuring fluid traffic to avoid stopping and starting is a big energy saver. In Germany, the speed is displayed in the cab so that trains can slow down ahead of a stop or incident. In France, SNCF Research is carrying out a more ambitious project to make traffic more fluid. It has developed a system based on different principles, which will go into testing soon. A consumption gauge is probably going to be required soon on locomotives, too. Drivers will then know whether or not they are driving economically.