With the development of industry and Agriculture countries, the amount of cargo that needs to be transported from one region of the country to another is increasing, and this places demands on railway transport to increase freight and throughput capacity railways. In our country, more than half of all freight turnover is carried out using electric traction.

There were no electric railways in Tsarist Russia. The electrification of main highways was planned in the first years of Soviet power during the organization of the country's planned economy.

In the GOELRO plan developed in 1920, attention was paid to increasing the carrying and throughput capacity of railways by converting them to electric traction. In 1926, the Baku-Surakhani line with a length of 19 km was electrified at a voltage of contact network 1200 V DC. In 1929, the suburban section Moscow - Mytishchi with a length of 17.7 km with a voltage in the contact network of 1500 V was transferred to electric traction. In 1932, the first main section Khashuri - Zestafonn on the Suram Pass of the Caucasus with a length of 63 km with a voltage of 3000 V DC was electrified current After this, the electrification of some of the most severe climatic conditions, the most heavily loaded sections and lines with a heavy profile began.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the most difficult sections in the Caucasus, the Urals, Ukraine, Siberia, the Arctic and in the suburbs of Moscow, with a total length of about 1900 km, were transferred. During the war, lines were electrified in the Urals, in the suburbs of Moscow and Kuibyshev with a total length of about 500 km.

After the war, sections of electrified railways in the western part of the country, located in territory temporarily occupied by the enemy, had to be restored. In addition, it was necessary to convert new heavy sections of railways to electric traction. Suburban areas, previously electrified at a voltage of 1500 V in the contact wire, were transferred to a voltage of 3000 V. Beginning in 1950, from the electrification of individual sections they switched to converting entire freight-loaded areas to electric traction, and work began on the Moscow-Irkutsk, Moscow lines -Kharkov, etc.

The increase in the flow of national economic goods and the growth of passenger transportation require more powerful locomotives and an increase in the number of trains. With a voltage in the contact network of 3000 V, the currents consumed by powerful electric locomotives, with a significant number of them in the supply area from traction substations, caused large energy losses. To reduce losses, it is necessary to place traction substations closer to one another and increase the cross-section of the contact network wires, but this increases the cost of the power supply system. Energy losses can be reduced by reducing the currents passing through the wires of the contact network, and in order for the power to remain the same, it is necessary to increase the voltage. This principle is used in the electric traction system of alternating single-phase current with an industrial frequency of 50 Hz at a contact network voltage of 25 kV.

The currents consumed by electric rolling stock (electric locomotives and electric trains) are significantly less than with a direct current system, which makes it possible to reduce the cross-section of the overhead wires and increase the distances between traction substations. This system began to be studied in our country even before the Great Patriotic War. Then, during the war, research had to be stopped. In 1955-1956 Based on the results of post-war developments, the Ozherelye-Pavelets experimental section of the Moscow road was electrified using this system. Subsequently, this system began to be widely introduced on the railways of our country along with the direct current electric traction system. By the beginning of 1977, electrified railways in the USSR stretched over a distance of about 40 thousand km, which is 28% of the length of all railways in the country. Of these, about 25 thousand km are on direct current and 15 thousand km are on alternating current.

The railways from Moscow to Karymskaya are over 6,300 km long, from Leningrad to Yerevan - about 3.5 thousand km, Moscow-Sverdlovsk - over 2 thousand km, Moscow-Voronezh-Rostov, Moscow-Kiev-Chop, lines connecting the Donbass with the Volga region and the western part of Ukraine, etc. In addition, suburban traffic in all major industrial and cultural centers has been switched to electric traction.

In terms of the pace of electrification, length of lines, volume of transportation and cargo turnover, our country has left all countries of the world far behind.

Intensive railway electrification caused by its great technical and economic advantages. Compared to a steam locomotive or with the same weight and dimensions, it can have significantly greater power, since it does not have a prime mover (steam engine or diesel engine). Therefore, an electric locomotive ensures operation with trains at significantly higher speeds and, consequently, increases the throughput and carrying capacity of railways. The use of control of several electric locomotives from one station (a system of many units) makes it possible to increase these indicators to an even greater extent. Higher travel speeds ensure faster delivery of goods and passengers to their destination and bring additional economic benefits to the national economy.

Electric traction has a higher efficiency compared to diesel and especially steam traction. The average operational efficiency of steam traction is 3-4%, diesel traction is about 21% (with 30% use of diesel power), and electric traction is about 24%.

When an electric locomotive is powered from old thermal power plants, the efficiency of electric traction is 16-19% (with the efficiency of the electric locomotive itself being about 85%). Such a low efficiency of the system with a high efficiency of the electric locomotive is obtained due to large energy losses in the furnaces, boilers and turbines of power plants, the efficiency of which is 25-26%.

Modern power plants with powerful and economical units operate with efficiency up to 40%, and efficiency electric traction when receiving energy from them is 25-30%. The most economical operation of electric locomotives and electric trains is when the line is powered from a hydraulic station. At the same time, the efficiency of electric traction is 60-62%.

It should be noted that steam and diesel locomotives run on expensive and high-calorie fuel. Thermal power plants can operate on lower grades of fuel - brown coal, peat, shale, and also use natural gas. The efficiency of electric traction also increases when areas are powered by nuclear power plants.

Electric locomotives are more reliable in operation, require lower costs for equipment inspections and repairs, and can increase labor productivity by 16-17% compared to diesel traction.

Only electric traction has the ability to convert the mechanical energy stored in the train into electrical energy and transfer it during regenerative braking to the contact network for use by other electric locomotives or motor cars operating in traction mode during this period. In the absence of consumers, energy can be transferred to the power grid. Due to energy recovery, it is possible to obtain a large economic effect. Thus, in 1976, due to recovery, about 1.7 billion kWh of electricity was returned to the network. Regenerative braking improves the safety of trains and reduces wear on brake pads and wheel tires.

All this makes it possible to reduce the cost of transportation and make the process of transporting goods more efficient.

Due to the technical reconstruction of traction in railway transport, approximately 1.7 billion tons of fuel were saved, and operating costs decreased by 28 billion rubles. If we assume that until now steam locomotives would have been operating on our highways, then, for example, in 1974 it would have been necessary to consume a third of the coal mined in the country in their furnaces.

Electrification of Russian railways contributes to the progress of the national economy of the surrounding areas, since industrial enterprises, collective farms, and state farms receive power from traction substations and ineffective, uneconomical local diesel power plants are closed. Every year, over 17 billion kWh of energy flows through traction substations to power non-traction consumers.

With electric traction, labor productivity increases. If with diesel traction labor productivity increases by 2.5 times compared to steam, then with electric traction it increases by 3 times. The cost of transportation on electrified lines is 10-15% lower than with diesel traction.

Electrification of railways

All over the world today there are more than 100 thousand km of electrified railways. Electrification was carried out at the fastest pace in our country until 1990.

The birthday of electric traction is considered to be May 31, 1879, when the first electric railway, 300 m long, built by Werner Siemens, was demonstrated at an industrial exhibition in Berlin (Fig. 20). An electric locomotive that resembled a modern electric car,

Rice. 20. The first electric railway

driven by a 9.6 kW (13 hp) electric motor. An electric current of 160 V was transmitted to the engine along a separate rail; the return wire was the rails along which the train moved - three miniature cars at a speed of 7 km/h.

In the same 1879, an in-plant electric railway line with a length of approximately 2 km was launched at the Duchesne-Fourier textile factory in Breuil in France. In 1880 in Russia F.A. Pirotsky managed to use electric current to set in motion a large, heavy carriage that could accommodate 40 passengers. On May 16, 1881, passenger traffic was opened on the first urban electric railway Berlin - Lichterfeld. The rails of this road were laid on an overpass. Somewhat later, the Elberfeld-Bremen electric railway connected a number of industrial points in Germany.

As you can see, electric traction was initially used on city tram lines and industrial enterprises, especially in mines and coal mines. But very soon it turned out that it was beneficial on pass and tunnel sections of railways, as well as in suburban traffic. In 1895, the Baltimore tunnel and tunnel approaches to New York were electrified in the United States. Electric locomotives with a capacity of 185 kW (50 km/h) were built for these lines.

After the First World War, many countries embarked on the path of railway electrification. Electric traction is beginning to be introduced on main lines with high traffic density. In Germany, the lines Hamburg - Alton, Leipzig - Halle - Magdeburg, a mountain road in Silesia, and Alpine roads in Austria are being electrified. Italy is electrifying its northern roads. France and Switzerland are starting to electrify. In Africa, an electrified railway appears in the Congo.

In Russia, there were projects for the electrification of railways even before the First World War. The electrification of the St. Petersburg - Oranienbaum line had already begun, but the war prevented its completion. And only in 1926 the movement of electric trains between Baku and the Sabunchi oil field was opened. On October 1, 1929, regular movement of electric trains began on the Moscow-Mytishchi section.

On August 16, 1932, the first main electrified section in the USSR Khashuri - Zestaponi, passing through the Suram Pass in the Caucasus, went into operation. In the same year, the first domestic electric locomotive of the C series was built (Fig. 21). In the 30s, certain sections with large freight traffic and heavy track profiles were electrified, such as Kizel - Chusovskaya, Goroblagodatskaya - Sverdlovsk, Kandalaksha - Murmansk and a number of others. By the beginning of 1941, the total length of electrified lines exceeded 1800 km. Electrification did not stop even during the Great Patriotic War.

Rice. 21. The first Soviet electric locomotive of the C series

The technology of electric railways has changed radically during their existence, only the principle of operation has been preserved. The locomotive's axles are driven by electric traction motors that use energy from power plants. This energy is supplied from power plants to the railway via high-voltage power lines, and to electric rolling stock via a contact network. The return circuit is the rails and the ground.

Three different electric traction systems are used - direct current, alternating current reduced current of reduced frequency and alternating current of standard industrial frequency 50 Hz. In the first half of the current century, before the Second World War, the first two systems were used, the third gained recognition in the 50-60s, when intensive development of converter technology and drive control systems began. In a direct current system, a current of 3000 V (in some countries 1500 V and lower) is supplied to the pantographs of electric rolling stock. This current is provided by traction substations where alternating current high voltage of general industrial power systems is reduced to the required value and rectified by powerful semiconductor rectifiers.

The advantage of the DC system at that time was the possibility of using brushed DC motors, which had excellent traction and performance properties. And its disadvantages include the relatively low voltage in the contact network, limited valid value motor voltage. For this reason, significant currents are transmitted along the contact wires, causing energy losses and complicating the process of current collection in the contact between the wire and the current collector. The intensification of railway transportation and the increase in the weight of trains have led in some areas of direct current to difficulties in powering electric locomotives due to the need to increase the cross-sectional area of ​​the overhead wires (hanging a second reinforcing contact wire) and ensuring the efficiency of current collection.

The direct current system has become widespread in many countries; more than half of all electrical lines operate on such a system.

The task of the traction power supply system is to ensure efficient operation of electric rolling stock with minimal energy losses and at the lowest possible cost for the construction and maintenance of traction substations, overhead contact networks, power lines, etc.

The desire to increase the voltage in the contact network and eliminate the process of current rectification from the electrical supply system explains the use and development in a number of European countries (Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Austria) of an alternating current system with a voltage of 15,000 V, having a reduced frequency of 16 2/3 Hz . In this system, electric locomotives use single-phase brushed motors, having worse performance than DC motors. These motors cannot operate at the common industrial frequency of 50 Hz, so a lower frequency must be used. To generate electric current of this frequency, it was necessary to build special “railway” power plants not connected to general industrial power systems. The power lines in this system are single-phase; at substations only voltage reduction is carried out by transformers. Unlike DC substations, in this case there is no need for AC-DC converters, which used unreliable, bulky and uneconomical mercury rectifiers. But the simplicity of the design of DC electric locomotives was crucial, which determined its wider use. This led to the spread of the direct current system on the railways of the USSR in the first years of electrification.

In the post-war period, power supply devices dismantled during the war years were restored, and electrification of lines with high load intensity continued.

The pace of electrification increased sharply after the government adopted the resolution “On the Master Plan for the Electrification of Railways” in 1956. By 1980, the length of sections operating on electric traction amounted to 32.8% of the total length, and the volume of transportation carried out by them was equal to 54.8%.

In the first decades, railways were electrified using direct current voltages of 1500 V (suburban sections) and 3000 V (mainline). To connect sections with different voltages in the contact network, special electric locomotives (VL19) and multiple unit electric sections (SR) were built, transformers were created for mercury rectifiers capable of operating at two voltages: 1650 and 3300 V. Subsequently, all sections with a voltage in the contact network were 1500 V transferred to 3000 V. In the 50s, a more powerful eight-axle DC electric locomotive VL8 was created, and then VL10 and VL11.

Since the 30s, the possibilities of using single-phase alternating current of industrial frequency for traction purposes have been studied. The ongoing research was resumed in 1951. As an experimental one in 1955 - 1956. The Ozherelye-Pavelets section, 137 km long, was electrified using alternating current voltage of 22 kV. Electric rolling stock and an alternating current traction power supply system were tested on it, and the first station for connecting the contact network of two types of current was created.

In this system, traction substations, as in the direct current system, are powered from general industrial high-voltage three-phase networks. But they don't have rectifiers. The three-phase AC voltage of power lines is converted by transformers into single phase voltage contact network is 25,000 V, and the current is rectified directly on the electric rolling stock. Lightweight, compact and personnel-safe semiconductor rectifiers, which replaced mercury rectifiers, ensured the priority of this system. All over the world, railway electrification is developing using the industrial frequency alternating current system.

In 1960, one of the most heavily loaded sections of the East Siberian Railway Mariinsk - Zima with a heavy track profile, located in an area with harsh climatic conditions, was the first to be electrified using alternating current with a voltage in the contact network of 25 kV.

In addition to the traditional 25 kV AC system, its varieties have been and are used: with suction transformers (to reduce the cost of protecting communication lines from the electromagnetic influence of the contact network), with a longitudinal wire with a voltage of 50 kV and autotransformers (the so-called 2x25 kV system), with shielding reinforcing wire (to reduce the resistance of the traction network).

Since 1956, electric traction was put into operation mainly on the main long-distance freight-intensive routes connecting the European part of the country with the Urals and Siberia, including its eastern part, as well as with the south of the country. In 1961, the electrification of the world's largest highway Moscow - Baikal with a length of 5647 km was completed, in 1962 - the Leningrad - Leninakan highway with a length of 3500 km. The electrification of entire routes has significantly improved the use of electric locomotives.

For new lines electrified with alternating current with a frequency of 50 Hz and a voltage of 25 kV, six-axle electric locomotives VL60 with mercury rectifiers and commutator motors were created, and then eight-axle locomotives with semiconductor rectifiers VL80 and VL80 s were created. VL60 electric locomotives were also converted to semiconductor converters and received the designation VL60 k series.

The new electric rolling stock, compared to the one produced 20-30 years ago, has changed greatly in design and appearance. Eight-axle VL80 r and 12-axle VL85 (Fig. 22) AC electric locomotives have been created, characterized by high traction and braking characteristics due to smooth regulation of traction force and speed, automatic control and high energy characteristics. Production of 12-axle DC electric locomotives has begun.

Rice. 22. AC electric locomotive VL85

Thyristor, or so-called pulse, regulators have successfully replaced the outdated system of step rheostat control. Many countries have completely switched to the production of DC electric rolling stock with thyristor converters.

In connection with the development of semiconductor converter technology, commutator motors are increasingly being replaced by AC motors, asynchronous and synchronous.

Modern electric locomotives widely use control automation and mode optimization using microprocessor technology. On-board and stationary equipment diagnostics are being introduced. The equipment for protection against short-circuit currents and overvoltages is being improved.

Electric traction is the most fuel-efficient way to transport goods. Moving 1 ton of cargo per 100 km consumes 1 kWh of electricity. In 1998, the share of electricity consumed by railway transport in the structure of electricity consumption by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation was only 4.7%. Electric locomotives have an undeniable advantage - they are capable of generating and returning electrical energy to the traction network during regenerative braking. In 1998, due to regenerative braking, annual energy savings amounted to approximately 0.7 billion kWh, i.e. 3.2% of its consumption for traction of trains. Electric traction is the most environmentally friendly form of transport.

As technology developed, contact network devices and traction substations were improved. Reinforced concrete supports on block foundations, rigid crossbars, and compensated suspensions allowing movement speeds of 200 - 250 km/h have become widespread. For the AC contact network, reinforced concrete undivided supports of the SS type are used, and, if necessary, separate ones with foundations of increased reliability.

At traction substations, instead of mercury rectifiers, which replaced motor-generators, powerful power semiconductor converters operate. Almost all electrified lines are telemechanized. The first telecontrol systems were relay-contact, then they were replaced electronic devices and, finally, systems based on integrated circuits and microprocessors.

On the St. Petersburg - Moscow line, a contact suspension of the KS-200 type was installed, providing reliable current collection at train speeds of up to 200 km/h.

In recent years, the electrification range with a service life of 40 years or more has been steadily increasing. Its length in 2000 was 8900 km, or 22%. In 2005 it exceeded 15 thousand km. The specific damage rate of contact networks that have served for 40 years or more is 2.7 times higher than in newly commissioned areas. Maintaining technical means in working order only by overhauling their individual elements not only does not improve the performance of the entire system, but also limits the possibilities of increasing the carrying capacity of sections. New technical solutions and updating of technical means of power supply are needed.

In the conditions of increasing length of electrified lines, the service life of which has reached its limit, it is necessary to ensure the strengthening of the material and technical base of the electrification and power supply economy in order to stabilize the technical condition, and in the main main directions of the network - to improve the main technical and operational indicators of the traction power supply system: contact network, traction substations, non-traction power supply networks (0.4-10 kV).

Improvement of technical means should be aimed at creating intelligent self-regulated systems that ensure optimal operating modes of power supply devices.

In relation to the contact network it is necessary:

Equip laboratory cars for testing the contact network with diagnostic complexes based on computers, allowing testing of components and elements of the contact suspension for heating, monitoring the serviceability of insulators, assessing the wear of the contact wire with an analysis of its condition, as well as the quality of current collection, etc.;

Develop technical solutions aimed at reducing damage to overhead contact network supports, supporting devices, fittings, and insulators;

Create a self-regulating contact suspension for high-speed traffic areas.

To increase the reliability of traction substations, it is necessary to develop and implement the following devices:

Step-down and traction transformers of new types;

Switches with new electrical insulating, environmentally friendly fillers (SF6 gas, midsection); vacuum circuit breakers;

Rectifier and rectifier-inverter converters on new generation power electronic devices;

Powerful energy storage devices.

When constructing power supply devices, it is necessary to use complete prefabricated devices, modules and units of high factory readiness.

In recent years, many studies have been carried out around the world on the pros and cons of electrification. All researchers recognize that electrification is economically beneficial. The conclusions of these works differ only regarding the amount of return on invested capital. According to various estimates, the profit exceeds 14%.

The first possibilities of equipping the railway with electric traction were discussed in 1874. Russian specialist F.A. During this period, Pirotsky conducted the first practical experiments on the railway tracks near Sestroretsk on the possibility of transmitting electrical energy through the use of rails isolated from the ground.

The first attempts to equip with electric traction

The work was carried out over a distance of one kilometer. The second rail served as a return wire. The resulting electrical energy was fed to a small engine. Two years later, after the start of the work, specialist F.A. Pirotsky is publishing an article about the results obtained in one of the technical engineering journals. The end result was that he tested the launch of trolleys moving along railway tracks using the generated electricity.

First practical application

Werner Siemens, living in Germany, carried out the practical application of electricity on the railway. The Berlin Industrial Exhibition of 1879 exhibited this achievement on its premises in the form of a narrow-gauge road, on which guests of the exhibition had the honor of traveling. The train consisted of several open cars, which were pulled by an electric locomotive. Its movement was provided by two motors powered by direct current; a voltage of one hundred and fifty volts was provided by an iron strip located in the space between the rails. One of the running rails served as a return wire.

Test plot

Two years later, in the Berlin suburban part of Lichterfeld, the inventor W. Siemens completed the construction of trial railway tracks, provided with electrical power, and a carriage equipped with a motor moved along them. The current voltage was one hundred and eighty volts and was supplied to one running rail - this was, as it were, a return wire.

To eliminate the possible large loss of electrical energy due to poor insulation due to the use of wood sleepers for this purpose, engineer Werner Siemens had to change schematic diagram supplying power to the electric motor.

First experience of suspended electrification system

The Paris World Exhibition became the platform where people saw an electric road using an overhead working drive. This power supply was in the form of an iron tube suspended above the rail tracks. A longitudinal slit was made at the bottom of the tube. A shuttle moved in the inner part of the pipe, which was connected by means of a flexible wire through an existing slot and attached directly to the locomotive roof surface, thus transmitting current to the electric motor.

A similar tube was suspended nearby, parallel to the first tube, and served as a reverse drive. A similar system was used on trams created in 1884, which appeared on German and Austrian territories in the cities of Offenbach, Frankfurt, Vorderbrühl and Mödling. To ensure tram traffic, a voltage of three hundred and fifty volts was supplied.

In those same years, the Irish city of Kinresh became a kind of platform for innovators who used the third rail as a current conductor on tram lines. It was installed using insulators that stood parallel to the running rails. Unfortunately, this new scheme did not have long-term practical use, since in urban conditions it was a clear obstacle for pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.

The work of a Russian engineer

The most interesting thing is that Fyodor Apollonovich Pirotsky warned about all these circumstances of technical doom in supplying power to an electric motor in one of his works, published in the newspaper edition of St. Petersburg Vedomosti. They stated in plain text that his brainchild in the form of an electric railway was the simplest and cheapest structure. There is no need to incur additional costs for laying the middle rail line, which increases the cost of the project by five percent and interferes with vehicle traffic on city streets. To implement his project, there will be no need to purchase cast iron poles, which cost a lot of money. Subsequently, foreign inventors heeded such a reasonable warning from the Russian engineer and put everything into practice.

Inventor F.A. Pirotsky was actively involved in the implementation of his project, realizing that urban and railway transport had no future without electricity. Based on the results of his new research and testing, a double-decker motor car moving along rail tracks will appear on the streets of St. Petersburg. In 1881, this carriage was exhibited at the Paris exhibition.

The English city of Brighton became a pioneer in the practical implementation of the Russian engineer’s project in 1884. The length of the electric railway, where only one rail was powered, was seven miles. As a result, the net profit of one electric carriage in comparison with a horse-drawn carriage during the working day amounted to four hundred and twenty francs.

Developments of American engineers

On the American continent, they also did not sit idly by, but were actively engaged in improving the method of current supply on an already created electric locomotive.

American researcher T.A. Edison carried out research work to improve the railway locomotive, consuming electricity as fuel. Over a four-year period of time, until 1884, T.A. Edison managed to create three short-length travel lines. The electric version of the created locomotive was more reminiscent of a steam locomotive model. Power was provided by generators. One of the track rails was powered from the negative, the other rail was connected to the positive generator pole. Already in 1883, at the Chicago exhibition, a locomotive, modern for that time, consuming electric current, named “The Judge,” appeared on one of the sites. The creation of this electric locomotive version was carried out in close collaboration with another inventor S.D. Field.

At the same time, the American engineer L. Daft managed to build the first model of a mainline electric locomotive, named “Atreg”. The locomotive used standard gauge railroad tracks on the route from McGregor to Saratoga. Subsequently, L. Daft managed to improve the technical qualities of his own locomotive version, but now it is called “Benjamin Franklin”, its mass is ten tons, length is four meters. There were four driving wheels. The supply of electric current, whose voltage was two hundred and fifty volts, was carried out through the third rail, which ensured the operation of a motor whose power reached one hundred and twenty-five horsepower. There were enough of them for the train to have eight cars, and they followed, driven by an electric locomotive at a speed of sixteen kilometers per hour.

Swiss Gear Road

In the same 1884, the Swiss engineer Mr. R. Thorne built an experimental railway with gears. As a result, the village of Tori and the mountain hotel received a transport artery with a steep slope, along which a small electric locomotive with four driving wheels followed. The power parameters were insignificant and allowed the passenger transportation of only four people. Going down the slope, the braking mode was activated, and the electric motor became a generator, delivering the generated electrical energy to the network.

Electrification in Russia

Project

Designers from all countries worked to improve the existing electric locomotive versions, as well as on the technology for supplying electricity to the locomotive.

Electrification went its own way in the Russian Empire. The project on how to electrify the first domestic railway appeared at the very end of the nineteenth century, in 1898. But to begin construction of Oranienbaumskaya electric line from St. Petersburg to Krasnye Gorki was possible only in 1913. It was not possible to implement the existing plans in full due to the outbreak of the First World War. As a result, limited sections of the road became a city tram route. In Strelna, trams still follow the tracks today.

In the post-revolutionary period, the young government of the RSFSR initiated the development of the well-known GOELRO plan and approved it in 1921. The electrification of the tracks was to be carried out in ten to fifteen years. The length of the new tracks under the project was three thousand five hundred kilometers, covering only a small part of the most important directions.

Beginning of work

The first railways with electric traction appeared in 1926 on the route: from Surakhani to Sabunchi and further to the capital of Azerbaijan - Baku. Three years later, electric trains master the suburban route from Moscow-Passazhirskaya to Mytishchi along the Northern Railway.

A little more time passed, and in 1932 the Suramsky pass section received electricity. Now, mainline traffic on this road was provided by electric locomotives. The electric traction system used D.C., the voltage of which reached three thousand volts. In subsequent years, it was widely used on the railways of the Soviet Union. The first days of electric locomotive operation clearly demonstrated their advantage over steam locomotive traction. These indicators were productivity and energy efficiency.

By 1941, the length of all tracks provided with electrical energy was one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five kilometers.

Post-war period

In the first post-war year, electrified lines reached a total length of two thousand twenty-nine kilometers. It should be noted that six hundred and sixty-three kilometers of the road were restored, and in fact, practically rebuilt.

There was an active restoration of the production capacity of factories destroyed during the war. A new enterprise is emerging in the city of Novocherkassk, which specializes in the production of electric locomotives. Two years after the war, a Riga enterprise producing electric trains began operating.

We must not forget that in those difficult post-war times, the electrification of railway tracks required significant infusions of funds. Therefore, the volume of growth in electrical tracks was significantly behind the planned plans and amounted to only thirteen percent. There were many reasons for this, starting with scarce funding for the work and ending with the high cost of materials needed to carry out such construction.

50s

In the fifties of the twentieth century, the level of mastered volumes in relation to planned loads was seventy percent.

At the Twentieth Party Congress, the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee N.S. Khrushchev harshly criticized the entire leadership of the Ministry of Railways. Some officials were removed from their positions.

One of the tasks of the fifth five-year plan was the construction of new power plant structures that could meet the needs of the electrified railway.

Subsequent master plans required the electrification of forty thousand kilometers of railway lines by 1970.

Building momentum

And again, industrialization helps to achieve an annual development of two thousand kilometers of railways equipped with electricity.

By March 1962, victorious reports appeared about the fulfillment of the planned loads by one hundred and five percent, which in physical terms amounted to eight thousand four hundred and seventy-three kilometers. All this clearly evidenced the previous lag behind the level of desired results.

In the seventies of the twentieth century, they began a massive replacement with semiconductor rectifiers to replace the mercury rectifiers located at substations. Each new substation being built was equipped only with semiconductor equipment. All this meant that the most powerful and reliable inverter units appeared in the Soviet Union. They made it possible to return excess energy that was generated by rolling stock during the period of electric braking to the primary external network.

Safely and quickly turning off the current in a contact wire network has always been difficult and painful, especially during a short circuit.

Finally, powerful switches appeared at railway substations.

They were installed in pairs in a sequential pattern.

Russian period

With the advent of the twenty-first century, there has been a noticeable slowdown in the pace of construction of electrified transport routes in Russian Railways, four hundred and fifty kilometers per year. Sometimes this value dropped to one hundred and fifty kilometers, and sometimes rose to seven hundred kilometers. A significant part of the electrified tracks has been converted to use alternating current. Similar modernization was carried out on the Caucasian, Oktyabrskaya roads and in the Siberian directions.

Sochi 2014

On the eve of the 2014 Winter Olympics, a new electrified railway was immediately built along the route from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana. Today, the Republic of Belarus continues work on the electrification of railway lines on its territory.