Assessing Energy Consumption of High-speed Trains based on Mechanical Energy

Normally, not all the stopping sections of a high-speed rail (HSR) are long enough for a train to achieve the initially fixed target speed. By taking this crucial attribution of HSR into consideration, an assessment model for energy consumption of a high-speed train (HST) is established based on its mechanical energy. An example based on real data in China effectively demonstrates the model. It is found that both the target speed and stopping frequency have significant effects on HST energy consumption. If the target speed rises from 200 to 350 km/h, the increasing percentages of energy consumption are 133%, 140%, 149% and 153% respectively for HSTs of the four examined stop schedules: all-stop, skip-stop, large-stop and non-stop. The non-stop HST consumes the less energy whereas all-stop HST consumes the most under equivalent conditions. Moreover, the travel speed of an HST with high target speed and frequent stopping is not significantly higher than that of an HST with lower target speed and less frequent stopping, but the former's energy consumption is strikingly more than the latter's. The findings might help rail departments to make a more environmental-friendly HST operation scheme by integrating its target speed and stop schedule.