Page 49 - Vía Libre Special - 25 Years of Spanish High Speed Rail

Power supply

The required design speed of 350 km/h involved the need to develop a new OHL system with a higher perfor-
mance than the one installed on the Madrid-Seville line, the Re-250. The chosen OHL type, the EAC-350 Ma-
drid-Barcelona, was an industrial development made by a group of Spanish companies whose R&D was backed
financially by the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI in Spanish) and the Ministry of Industry
and Energy.
This OHL was the first design in the world to enable optimal power collection at speeds of up to 385
km/h. The design of bracket assemblies, which are lightweight and tubular, the suspension and tensioning devi-
ces allowing for tight tolerances, and the entire design of the hangers allows the system to meet the static and
dynamic requirements set out in current interoperability standards.
The power requirements of the Madrid-Barcelona line called for higher power substations with two 60
MW transformers with a range of some 60 km, which in degraded situations are able to power 120 km with the
geographic range provide by collateral substations.
The power supply system is 2x25 kV 50 Hz, compared to the Madrid-Seville line’s 1x25 kV. This makes it
possible to keep voltage levels more constant throughout each powered section, aided by autotransformers
within the substation’s power supply range.
On the Madrid-Seville line, the power is 20x20 MVA, with a 1x25 kV 50 Hz single phase system, and high
voltage lines of 220/132 kV powering an average distance of 30 km. This line has twelve substations.
On the Madrid-Barcelona line, the power is 60 x 60 MVA, with a 2x25 kV 50 Hz system, and high voltage
lines of 400/220 kV powering an average distance of 60 km. With 675 km, including bypasses, it has the same
number of substations.

years of Spanish high speed rail

thereby justifying the choice of standard gauge on teroperability Specifications (TIS) for all subsystems:
the Madrid-Seville high speed line. infrastructure, power, control-command and signa-
The need to ensure the success of this con- lling, and operation and management of traffic and
nection drove the decision to conform without delay rolling stock.
to the technical requirement to meet Technical In- This requirement represented a major techno-

Vía Libre • Special 25th Anniversary of the AVE Edition 49