Energy Efficient Operation of Light Rail Transit (LRT) System for Kelana Jaya Line via Train Headway Time: A Malaysia Case Study

Abstract

With the advancement of new technologies in the rail system, there is a possibility that the energy consumption in the rail system will increase if no efforts are taken to ensure sustainability in the Light Rail Transit (LRT). Therefore, efforts on reducing energy consumption in LRT through optimizing train operational with a good control strategy is crucial to achieve energy saving whilst ensuring efficient use of energy. Train operations such as unchanged dwell time, increase in the length of journey, increase number of trains and train weight are few factors that may increase the traction energy consumption of the LRT system. However, due to frequent changes in passengers commuting between stations, controlling energy consumption will be a challenge as energy consumption keeps fluctuating most of the time coupled with signal delays at intersection and unexpected problem occur along the line. One of the energy saving measures is to control the train headway time. In the context of this research, headway time is defined as the time interval of the tip of one train to the tip of the next one behind it. The regularity of the headway time can be improved by adjusting the dwell time or running time between stations for each train. This paper presents a potential of energy saving at various headway time with increase number of car-train scheduled. Based on the simulation analysis, it indicates that there is a possibility that energy consumption per day can be reduced by 5.9% with a reduction of 5% of the current headway time.