Assessment of Energy Requirement of a Proposed Electric Railway System in Southern Sri Lanka

The focus of this study was to calculate the energy requirements of an electric railway service parallel to the southern expressway of Sri Lanka. It assumed a new 127 km single-track railway corridor from Kottawa to Godagama- Matara with eleven new railway stations for interchanges along the expressway.

High-speed X-2000 trains with 6-cars, capable of reaching a top speed of 200 km/h were assumed. Each train will have 465 seats, of which 25% will be in the premium class and 75% in the economy class. The average train length will be about 165 m with a mass of around 366 tonne. The average demand will be 9-11 kW/t, and the starting acceleration will be 0.42 m/s², and the load factor was estimated to be 55%. The calculated total annual energy requirement for the service was 26 GWh.

A 25 kV 50 Hz single-phase ac overhead line supplies power from the grid to the train. The study assumed train speeds of up to 160 km/h.

This study presents an energy cost analysis of the traditional diesel trains and grid connected electric trains. If the trains operate from grid power, the energy cost will be Rs. 561 million per annum while traditional diesel fuel cost will be Rs. 384 million per annum.