Rail Energy Efficiency and Storage
Most electric-powered railway transportation systems do not effectively recover and provide for effective reuse of energy from braking.
Currently the majority of subway and commuter rail vehicles are stopped by using a combination of electrical resistors and brake pads.
These systems do not provide any method to capture or reuse this electrical energy and waste it as dissipated heat.
Dayton T. Brown is investigating the feasibility and application of an on-train regenerative braking and electrical storage system. This system could capture and reuse megawatt-hours (MWh) of wasted braking energy on a daily basis.