Ways to reduce electric power consumption in the operation of locomotives on flat sections of railways

Electricity consumption for traction depends on a number of operational parameters, including the use of power of electric rolling stock. Due to the fact that the Russian Railways are characterized by pronounced uneven sections of track, which, along with the hilly-mountain and mountain profile and has flat stretches long-haul locomotives when operating on different difficulty sections of the road have a different load and therefore operated with a different energy indicators. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the energy performance of the electric locomotives for driving passenger trains on flat terrain and the possible ways to increase their energy efficiency. To achieve this goal was the analysis of passenger electric locomotives EP2K on a flat site Novosibirsk-Omsk, West-Siberian railway, the mean values of the speeds and masses of passenger trains have been calculated for capacity, utilization factor, power rating and efficiency of electric locomotives. On the basis of the conducted research it was determined that the EP2K electric locomotives in the plains of the Railways a large extent operate in inefficient modes, due to their excess capacity, which is impossible to implement. In this regard, it was concluded that reserves of energy saving in those areas of Railways, where the operating conditions there is a clear underutilization of the capacity of the locomotives, a method of increasing the efficiency of their use through the use of a stepped power control and comparative evaluation of EP2K electric locomotives on all parts and traction motors.