Abstract :
The development of a cost-optimal traction system towards a specific set of customer requirements is a complex, iterative process with many pitfalls. The new European market situation, with business-oriented operators specifying only their basic performance requirements and no technical details, and with a multinational industry where components such as motors, inverters, etc. are supplied not only from different departments but from different countries, increases the complexity of the process even further, and with that the risk of sub optimisation. Even in the simplest case, with the only requirement being a maximum run time between two stations with a certain train weight, several very different solutions are all technically possible.
