Development of Catenary-Free Tram Powered by On-Board Battery in Korea

초록

On behalf of enhanced battery technologies, batteries have been recently employed as main driving force of vehicle. In public transportation sector, wireless (catenary-free) trams powered by on-board battery have been developed in Korea, Japan, and Europe. It eliminates the catenary in downtown areas, reduces visual intrusion, and enhances the city environment. In Korea, the prototype of WTRAM (Wireless Low-Floor Tram) and embedded track system was developed from 2009 to 2013 with the financial support of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport. WTRAM’s battery capacity, 162KWh, is the highest in the world and it makes tram vehicle run up to 25 km with the single full charge. From 2014, the reliability enhancement of developed tram vehicle and embedded track system, and the development of tram operation system have been performed. In this paper, we introduce the development status of wireless tram system in Korea, and the effort to enhance the performance of tram vehicle.