Electric railway traction. VI. Electromagnetic compatibility disturbance-sources and equipment susceptibility

The railway traction environment contains many noise sources and receivers, and is considered to be EMI unfriendly because of the mixing of power, information and communications signals in space, time and frequency. Railway EMC has received much attention for 30 years following the development of converter-fed traction drives and computerised signalling systems. This article covers systems issues including the fundamentals of electromagnetic coupling, disturbance noise sources and receiver susceptibility. The article discusses EM noise sources in traction systems including: rectifier and transformer substations; track and traction line; vehicles and drives; radiative emissions (RFI); and signalling equipment. The article then discusses track and equipment susceptibility to EMI including: track and traction line impedance; traction drive impedance; track signalling system impedance; and track circuit receivers.