Electrification of Panadura Veyangoda Railway Segment

Per passenger energy consumption and total expected energy saving

EE 5053 - Energy Efficiency Demand Management & Conservation

Assignment 1
S.B. Wijesundara
PG.Dip/ MSc in Electrical Installation

Introduction
Railway Electrification was not a new topic to Sri Lanka even in 1950. We have been
discussing about railway electrification since 1924. The key requirements of having an
electrified railway system are varying with the time. However, the basic advantages of having an
electrified railway system could be listed as follows.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Lower energy costs

Lower maintenance costs
Enhanced passenger comfort
Lover trip time ( Because of higher acceleration and deceleration rates compared to
diesel locomotives)
Environmental friendliness

But, according to the present context, the main objectives of having a comfortable electrified
railway system is for reducing the wastage of human hours in traffic congestions and saving a
considerable of energy wasted in transport sector.
So, a study followed by a calculation on the amount of energy that could be saved by electrifying
a particular segment of the railway network is a timely requirement. Here, I have calculated the
total expected energy saving by assuming the possibility of shifting 50% of current passenger
kilometers of Sri Lanka Railways to electrified railway system. In addition, an equivalent
amount to 10% of passenger kilometers of Sri Lanka Railways will be able attract towards the
new electrified railway system.

Selected Segment and passenger flow data

Having the basic idea from The report submitted to the Government of Sri Lanka to commence
Railway Electrification with a Project covering the Panadura -Colombo -Veyangoda Sector 2008 (lets termed this report as Railway Electrification Study -2008 hereafter) following set
of data were gathered.
Line Segment
PND
MRT
BPT
FOT
MDA
DAG
RGM
GPH

MRT
BPT
FOT
MDA
DAG
RGM
GPH
VGD

Flow of number of Number of trains

passengers 2015
2015
Distance(kM)
59865
67
7.28
82429
68
13.7
93361
82
7.22
142332
236
2.08
126098
130
2.46
150414
116
11.88
120687
106
11.98
77976
109
9.9

Table 1: Daily passenger and train flow data

Source: Railway flow data 2009 (collected from Prof.Amal Kumarage, University of
Moratuwa), http://podimenike.blogspot.com/2012/10/rail-road-distance-in-sri-lanka.html,
http://www.eservices.railway.gov.lk/schedule/searchTrain.action?lang=en
Here,
KTS Kaluthara South
PND Panadura
MRT Moratuwa
BPT Bambalapitiya
FOT ColomboFort
MDA Maradana
DAG Dematagoda
RGM Ragama
GPH Gampaha
VGD Veyangoda
The latest set of passenger flow data available is for year 2009. According to the data available in
Colombo metropolitan region transport master plan, the population growth rate of western province was
0.72% in the year 2012. With the assumptions of, average population growth rate during 2009 2015 is
equals to that of year 2012, and the growth rate of number of railway passengers is equals to the
population growth rate, passenger flow data for year 2015 have been extrapolated.
Sample calculation
Passenger flow in PND: MRT sector (2009) 57386
Population growth rate: 0.72%
Passenger flow in PND: MRT sector (2015) 57386 x 0.0072 x (2015 2009) = 59865

According to the study in 2008, 50% of railway passengers are traveling within Kaluthara South
Veyangoda segment. But, if we consider the KTS PND segment, it only serves 4.95% of total
passengers of KTS VGD segment, but includes 18.96% (i.e. 15.56 km) of total distance. Therefore,
investing on KTS PND segment will not be economical.
With these reasons, PNG VGD segment was considered for the calculation.
Energy Calculation
Railway
According to the test results the Railway Electrification Study 2008 average electricity consumption
per Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) is 5.5 kWh/km and the respective fuel consumption is 2.5 l/km.
When running with the grid connected power supply, we can neglect the power losses as separate power
lines are to be established. But transmission loss component which is 2.7% (in 2015) has to be taken in
to account. But, we have to deduct additional ~4% as the losses in the special railway power supply
system. The average generation efficiency has been calculated as in the Table 2.

Power Source
Hydro
Thermal
Total

Capacity
Plant Factor
(MW)
(Avg%)
Efficiency
1677
45%
2029
65%
3706
N/A

95%
40%
60%

Table 2: Installed Capacity, Plant factors and Efficiencies

The overall efficiency is calculated based on the installed capacities and the respective plant factors
and efficiencies. According to the calculation, the overall generation efficiency is 60%.
Sample calculation
Overall efficiency = 40% + 1677 X (45%) X (95% - 40%) / (1677 X 45% + 2029 X 65%)
= 60%
Now, we are in a convenient stage to calculate thermal equivalent energy consumption of a single
passenger kilometer in both electrified and non-electrified railway systems.
Table 3 shows the daily total energy consumption of each segment for both diesel and electrified
scenarios. Daily total energy consumption of Panadura Veyangoda sector is 648365 MJ for diesel
locomotives and 231374 MJs for electrified trains. The final energy values are in thermal equivalent
energy basis.

Power
Electricity
Number of
supply
Line Segment
Fuel consumption Consumption train
Generation Tranmission system
per train (L/km) kWh/km
kilometers Efficiency efficiency
efficiency
PND
MRT
2.5
5.5
487.76
60%
97%
96%
MRT
BPT
2.5
5.5
931.6
60%
97%
96%
BPT
FOT
2.5
5.5
592.04
60%
97%
96%
FOT
MDA
2.5
5.5
490.88
60%
97%
96%
MDA DAG
2.5
5.5
319.8
60%
97%
96%
DAG
RGM
2.5
5.5
1378.08
60%
97%
96%
RGM GPH
2.5
5.5
1269.88
60%
97%
96%
GPH
VGD
2.5
5.5
1079.1
60%
97%
96%
Total
Table 3: Total Energy consumption in MJs

Calorific
Energy
Valur of Energy
consumption
diesel
consumption - -Electricity
(MJ/L)
Diesel (MJ) (MJ)
39.6
48288
17232
39.6
92228
32912
39.6
58612
20916
39.6
48597
17342
39.6
31660
11298
39.6
136430
48686
39.6
125718
44863
39.6
106831
38123
648365
231374

Equations for calculations in the graph

1.

2.

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{
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{{
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Line
Segment
PND MRT
MRT BPT
BPT FOT
FOT MDA
MDA DAG
DAG RGM
RGM GPH
GPH VGD
Total
Average

Number of
Passenger
kilometers
435817.7475
1129284.029
674067.7485
296050.8129
310200.6943
1786915.849
1445827.442
771963.097
6850127.421

Energy
Energy
Energy per
Energy per
consumption
consumption
Passenger Passenger -Electricity
-Diesel (MJ)
Diesel(kJ/km) Electricity(kJ/km)
(MJ)
48288
92228
58612
48597
31660
136430
125718
106831
648365

Table 4: Per passenger energy consumption (J/km/passenger)

17232
32912
20916
17342
11298
48686
44863
38123
231374

110.80
81.67
86.95
164.15
102.06
76.35
86.95
138.39

39.54
29.14
31.03
58.58
36.42
27.25
31.03
49.38

94.65

33.78

The Per Passenger Fuel Consumption could easily be calculated by dividing the Total Energy
Consumption by the total number of Passenger Kilometers as demonstrated in Table 4. According to
the calculation, energy consumption by a single passenger for a diesel powered train is 94.65 kJ/km and
that of an electrified train is 33.78 kJ/km. The final energy values are in thermal equivalent energy
basis.

Road transportation

If we are to consider about the passengers shifting from roads to railways with railway electrification,
most of (~90%) them will the passengers of busses. Further, trains will be operated mostly in the rush
hours and average number of passengers per bus ~= 60 in those hours. A 2 door bus normally has a fuel
efficacy around 4.5 km/l in town areas. With the calorific value of diesel (36.9 MJ/l), per person energy
consumption for a kilometer could be calculated as follows for a bus.

{
} = 1/4.5 36.9 1/60 = 136.67 kJ/km

Calculation of energy saving

Now, we have common base for our energy calculation. Total number of Passenger Kilometers could
be used as the varying quantity.
Lets assume, 50% of total passenger kilometers will be shifted to electrified trains with a crowd
equal to 10% of total railway passenger kilometers from buses.

Calculation
Railway energy saving = (94.65 33.78) X (6850127) X 0.5 = 208483.6 MJ
Road energy saving = (136.67 33.78) X (6850127) = 70481 MJ
Total energy saving = 9624 + 4247.1 = 278964.6 MJ

Conclusion
According to our rough calculation, a considerable amount (278964.6 MJ) of energy could be saved
daily in thermal equivalent basis. But, a proper economical study which is followed by a proper cost
calculation has to be performed for figuring out the actual viability of the project.