New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

New electric high Speed Locomotives with

three Phase Drive
Systems for the US Market

Lutz Schwendt

Adtranz KasseYGermany

Abstract

New Jersey Transit has ordered 24 modern electric locomotives with three-phase drives for
high speed passenger service, which are designed on the basis of the proven high speed
locomotive class 101 of German railways. The new locomotive will fulfil the requirements of
the US authorities and considers the particular demands of US railroads.

The presentation describes the technology of the locomotive with respect of trucks, carbody,
electric propulsion system, brakes, control system and auxiliaries. It is shown, that the basic
technology used in Europe can be adapted for US requirements. Furthermore, the experience
with the basic locomotive class 101 and locomotives with similar technology is demonstrated.

The design of the new NJT locomotive NJT ALP46 and the project in general are explained.

1. Introduction

Electric locomotives have been the most common locomotives in almost all European
countries since many years. They are used for passenger service as well as for freight service,
most of the locomotives are for universal use. Historically based, there are 4 different voltage
systems in use.

The speed range goes up to 125 mph, and for high speed services like the German ICE or the
French TGV locomotives, so called powerheads, speeds up to about 200 mph are available.
The power is up to 1,6 M W per axle, that means for the mostly common 4-axle locomotive
6,4 MW continuous power. Standard axle loads are 22 metric tons, but for special purposes
solutions with axle loads up to 35 tons are realized.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

Since the beginning of the eighties the three-phase power conversion has become standard.
The development in this field was started by the former companies BBC and HENSCHEL at
the end of the sixties with air-cooled thyristor converters. Several investigations and stepwise
improvements created todays solution with gate turn off thyristors (GTO) with fluid cooling
and microprocessor controls.

The development has clearly been focussed on the European market and the Ilfdlment of all
applicable European standards and requirements had to be considered. Adtranz has created a
locomotive family which covers the requirements of the most applications. A typical
locomotive of this family is the Class 101 for German Railways (Picturel)

Picture 1: Class 101 Locomotive

With regard to electric locomotives, the US market was not in the main focus of Adtranz, as
the demand for those locomotives was not very high in the past. However, in the meantime
several projects for electric locomotives for passenger service came up in North America.
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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The tender fiom New Jersey Transit, to offer 24 new Class ALP46 electric locomotives gave
Adtranz the opportunity to attend this market and the success to win this order was the
starting point to modifl and to upgrade our locomotive program for use in US. As basic
locomotive for this development the Class 101 had been chosen because this locomotive is the
most potential one with regard to power and speed.

2. US Requirements from European View

Although American locomotives have not been strange to the Adtranz locomotive design staff
due to a close collaboration on diesel locomotives with EMD and GE for many years, it was
new for Adtranz to fulfil the requirementsfor the entire vehicle. Furthermore, just in this time
new requirements regarding safety in passenger service came up, and the new NJT
locomotive class ALP 46 was the first locomotive to fulfil the new APTA requirements.

The main differencesbetween the European and the US requirements can be highlighted as
follows:
- Loads on the carbody: Besides the much higher coupler load of 800.000 lbs. - the
standard in Europe is 440.000 Ibs. - detailed requirements for collision resistance of the
locomotive front are listed in FRA 49-CFR 238 and in addition the APTA SS-C&S-034-
99 . Compared with the comparable UIC standard 65 1the loads are much higher and
require several additional reinforcements of the carbody.
- Truck shear load: The required truck shear load of 200.000 lbs. in each direction is not
common with European locomotives. As the concept of these locomotives is different to
US locomotives, the original reason for this requirement needed to be investigated. As the
sense of this requirement is, to prevent the carbody fiom jumping from the truck in case
of a derailment, this could be fulfilled by minor reinforcements of the truck kame.
- Philosophy of driving the locomotive: To ensure, that the locomotive will be accepted
by the engineers, it was necessary to study how the engineers are accustomed operating
the locomotive. Several differences which were mainly based on the different
technologies of the locomotives in Europe and the US have been found.

- Approval of the locomotive by the authorities:The procedures to achieve the approval

for the locomotive is very different compared to the European procedures. This had to be
considered in design and documentation of the locomotive. One of the important
difference is, that in the US a railway vehicle will get FRA-approval only in connection
with the customers maintenance procedures. In Europe, an approval is valid for a vehicle
for service in the whole railway network of the appropriate country.
- Additional loads caused by US-typical rail conditions: Rail conditions in US are
expected to be worse than in Europe. This is definitely valid for running through yards

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive
and other side tracks. The requirements for safety a g h t derailing in consideration of
those conditions require a modified spring rate.

- With regard to dynamic loads caused by misalignments of the track, the requirements are
not specified. Assuming a carell and complete FE calculation of the structural parts, the
UIC requirements can be used, as the allowed misalignments on main lines are not
considerably different to European conditions. Naturally the wheel profde must fit to the
US rails - European wheel profdes will not work.

- Fire Safety: Fire safety requirements and test procedures differ between the US and
Europe. A direct comparison is not possible because of a totally different philosophy. An
American study by the US Department of Commerce (NIST technical note 1406, Jan.
1994) has shown, that the requirements are in reality not harder than in Europe. However,
as a direct comparison is not completely possible due to different testing methods, some
tests have to be repeated in accordance with the US standards.

Besides these differences caused by law or existing general conditions, special system
features have to be considered There are different overhead voltages and fiequencies, special
cab signaling systems and US style brake control systems to be adopted. Furthermore several
small US railway typical parts should be used to make maintenance of the locomotive easier.

As a summary it can be stated, that a European locomotive needs a lot of modifications to

ensure safe running as well as acceptance on US railway networks. In the following it is
shown,how that has been achieved on the basis of the standard Adtranz locomotive program.

3. The Technology of the Locomotive and the necessary Modifications for the US
Market

3.1 Locomotive Layout

The standard European electric locomotive has a double cab arrangement (Picture 2).

Picture 2: Layout Class 101 Locomotive

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

In the machinery compartment, the equipment is arranged along a center aisle. The equipment
is distributed into several racks or cubicles, each of which contains the components of a
certain function:

High voltage rack: This rack containsthe main circuit breaker, the grounding switch and
other high voltage components

Converters: The converters contain all components for the power conversion from the
overhead line current to the three-phase current for the traction motors.

Auxiliary rack: All switching and control equipment of the three phase auxiliary network
for locomotive auxiliaries is concentrated here.

Low voltage rack: this rack contains the apparatus for the control voltage network.

Cooling towers: the two cooling towers provide the cooling for the transformer and the
inverters. The cooling air is drawn from the roof and blown through the radiator under the
locomotive. The radiator itself is one radiator block with two independent fluid circuits
inside.

Traction motor blower: The four traction motor blowers draw the cooling air through
grids at the roofs and blow it into the traction motors. A small amount of this air is blown
through a filter into the machinery compartment to provide permanent airflow to avoid hot
areas.

Control cubicle: This cubicle contains the control electronics.

Air brake rack: The air brake rack contains the main compressor and all brake control
apparatus as far as applicable to be installed at this location.

The main transfomer is arranged under the carbody. In addition, the battery box as well as
some additional equipment is fixed in this area between the trucks.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The direct basis for the locomotive for NJT is the Class (BR)101 built for German Railways.
This locomotive is a 6,4 MW universal locomotive for use on passenger as well as freight
service (Picture 3).

I n f 1

200

Breakrn Effort with 6600

limitedt 150 k

50

200 250
0 50 100 150

Picture 3: TE Diagram Class 101

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

For the US Version of this locomotive, the described general layout did not need to be
changed. Naturally, there are modifications in detail as requested by the modifications of the
systems and functions which will be explained in the following chapters.

3.2 Carbody

The standard European electric locomotive has a monocoque carbody (picture 4)

Picture 4: Carbody

This carbody consists of several structural modules, which are welded together to form an
integrated structure. This modular principle allows modifications with regard to special
requirements without changing the entire design. The three detachable roof hatches are &om
aluminum and allow access to the full area of the machinery compartment. The air channels
for traction motor cooling air are integrated into the roof hatches. Two carlines without
structural carrying function are installed between the roofs.

The actual carbody design was developed in 1991 and has already been used for several
locomotives for German Railways, Italian Railways, Greek Railways and Polish Railways.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive
However, this carbody design was developed and used for European requirements. The US
requirements requested the following modifications:

Application of the center coupler with standard dr& gear and yoke. The height of the
coupler center above rail is significant lower than in Europe which causes additional
difficulties.
The buffing load is 800.000 lbs. instead of 440,000lbs.; thus the headstock as well as the
longitudinal girders had to be reinforced.
The loads on the cab fiont are significantly higher than requested in Europe. Thus, the cab
fiont is practically a new design although the outside shape of the BRlOl is mainly kept.
Compared with the basic BFElOl locomotive the cab the fiont has been elongated about
10 inches to get space for corner posts, collision posts and f r e wall.
The truck shear load of 200.000 Ibs. required a slight reinforcement of the truck
attachment beam.

However, the basic design principles did not need to be changed. A detailed FEM stress
calculation with the existing model modified in accordance with the design modifications has
been carried out. Furthermore, a squeeze test including the important loads will be carried out
with carbody no.3.

3 3 Trucks

The trucks for the NJT ALP46 locomotive are fiom the development line Flexifloat Trucks.
This Truck type development started at the end of the Sixties and was first presented with the
test locomotives DE2500 in 1970. This truck type has been supplied for more than 1000
locomotives for several purposes in many countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. It is today the
standard truck for Adtranz locomotives.

The characteristic technical features of the Flexifloat Truck are as follows:

- Axle guiding: The axle is guided in longitudinal direction by a link, in lateral direction
purely by the primary coil springs. Thus,longitudinal and lateral suspension parameters
are independent fiom each other. The axles are laterally suspended, which results in low
lateral dynamic rail forces. The axle guiding system is wear fiee; all components show
extremely long lifetime. As only longitudinal forces are transferred fiom the axle link to
the truck fiame, the local stresses in this critical area are low.

- Truck - Carbody connection: For longitudinal guiding, a connection rod is linked to one
end beam of the truck fiame and to a lateral beam at the carbody. Lateral guidance is done
by the secondary coil springs. Thus,the carbody can move laterally on the truck frame
which decreases the dynamic forces at the wheels and results also in a good comfort for
the engineer. Lateral rubber stops with progressive characteristic limit the movement.
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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

Due to these main elements of the Flexifloat -Truck there are some advantages of this
principal:

- The truck frame is very simple and easy to check during maintenance. Just the fixing
points for the axle links need precisely machining and check to keep the axles exacty in
parallel. All other dimensions can be kept in the tolerance area of one tenth of an inch.
- All components of the suspension system are wear free and designed for extremely long
lifetime.
- The basic design can be used for trucks for different purposes such as:
- 2or3axletrucks
- high speed or low speed for poor track quality
- axle loads up to 35 tons
- disc or tread brakes
- Nose suspended traction motors or fully suspended drives, AC or DC

The specific truck type used for the ALP46 locomotive had been developed in1992 for high
speedhigh power universal locomotives. The main data are:
- Service speed 136 mph
- Axle load up to 23 tons
- Power up to 1600 kW per axle
- Short wheelbase (104.33) to decrease wheel wear in curves
- Fully suspended drive unit, partly suspended to the carbody to decrease dynamic track
forces and to ensure sufficient running stability under all rail conditions
- Disc brakes to allow braking from high speeds without danger for the wheels

This truck type is now in use with 241 locomotives in service or under production. A total
mileage of approximately 80 Million miles has been achieved in the meantime, so that a
sufficient amount of experience is available.

For use with the ALP 46 the man modification was to fulfil the requirement to withstand
250.000 lbs. truck shear load. As the concept of the truck to carbody connection is totally
different to those of the usual American locomotives, it had to be defined, which elements
will be the ultimate stops. The solution is, that the longitudinal connection -the push-pull rod-
must withstand the required shear load. In lateral direction, the truck is within the carbody
structure and thus the shear load acts between the truck fkame and the lower carbody girder.

Besides this and the use of the US wheel profde no further modifications for US conditions
had to be considered. The truck fiame stress calculation in accordance with the current FRAU
and APTA regulations has shown, that the truck fi-ame withstands all those loads.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

3.4 Traction Motor and Gear Drive

In connection with the development of the new truck for high speedhigh power locomotives
with three phase traction motors a new fully-suspended drive unit has been created. The aim
of this development was to increase the service life and to avoid problems with pinion
bearings and tightness of the gearbox, which had been experienced with similar locomotives.
The new drive unit is an integrate component of traction motor and gearbox and can be used
for a power up to 1,6MW.

The characteristic features of the new drive unit (Picture 5 ) are:

Picture 5: Integrated Drive Unit

- The pinion bearing is situated at the outer side of the gearbox. With this arrangement., the
bearing load is decreased and the bearing size can be optimized in accordance with the
high rotating speed of about 4000 rpm, independently from the diameter of the rotor
torque shaft. Thus, the service life of the bearing is increased to 2 million miles.
Furthermore, the rotating sealing between gearbox and traction motor can be optimized,
because there is now sufficient space in this area.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The gearcase is a strong cast iron box without the usual split in the area of the gearwheel
bearing. This design avoids any oil leakage at the large rotating seals also after
reassembling, as no fluid seals or adjustments are needed. The assembly of the gearbox is
possible by a removable cover at the base of the gearbox, which can easily be exchanged
if it is damaged during a derailment or by heavy debris.

The gearbox has an intermediate wheel to enlarge the distance between traction motor and
axle to allow the arrangement of a high performance disc brake.

This drive unit is now running in locomotives in Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy and Poland.
For the use in US, no special modifications had to be considered.

3.5 Power Conversion

The three phase power conversion with induction motors and GTO inverters is a proven
technology for high power locomotives (Picture 6).

U
LSIO

Picture 6: Main Circuit Diagram Class101

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The standard main circuit consists of transformer, four quadrant controllers for controlled
feeding the DC links, traction converters and traction motors. This basic design can be used
for different overhead current systems.

The locomotives for the European market use special auxiliary converters with IGBT
technology, which are energized directly fiom a transformer winding. Due to the power
restriction of the components and to provide redundancy three converters are used. Head end
power is usually single phase and energized directly fiom a transformer winding. This is
possible, as the power circuits of all European coaches are adapted to the different overhead
current voltages - for international traffic four systems are installed in parallel.

The current and most proven design fiom Adtranz incorporates compact three phase modules
that contain the power semiconductors and all snubber circuit and protection components.
Liquid cooling with biologically degradable ester is used. For connection of the three phase
modules plug-in technology is used, so that removing and reinstalling of the modules requires
only a minimum of work (Picture 7).

Picture 7: Converter Module

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The three-phase modules, the DC link and the traction control system are installed within one
converter rack for each truck. Depending from the locomotive type, one traction converter per
axle or one traction converter for a truck can be installed (Picture 8).

. . --

Picture 8: Converter Rack

For the NJT ALP46 locomotive modifications with regard to the three different overhead
voltages as well as for the required three-phase head end power system had to be considered.
For that purpose one of the four traction converters of the basic circuit of the BRlOl is now
used as converter for the head end power and all auxiliaries which requires fixed fi-equency.
The traction converter of the second inverter rack is used as auxiliary converter for variable
fi-equency to feed the blowers for traction motors as well as inverter and transformer liquid
cooling. Thus, the blowers can be operated in accordance with the real need of cooling air to
reduce the noise of the locomotive, in particular when approaching a station.

All switches and other equipment for system changing are arranged inside the machinery
compartment. For that purpose an additional rack had to be installed, which also contains the
inrush current fdter. This rack has been placed at the location of the separate auxiliary
converters.

The transformer has a completely new configuration, however based on the current design
principles. Besides the windings for the different voltages, it also contains a filter winding and
the transformer for the head end power system.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

Although there are many modifications in the power conversion circuits, the most important
components of the basic design are used, so that no new development was necessary and no
new risks have been created.

3.6 Locomotive controls

For locomotive controls, traction control and locomotive diagnostics the Adtranz standard
MITRAC microprocessor system is used. This system is based on 32-bit technology. The data
conversion is decentralized, thatmeans the U 0 modules are close to the active components
which saves a lot of control cabling. The connection between the electronic modules is via
bus connections. This Multiple Vehicle Bus system (MVB) is in accordance with IEC
standards and compatible to the train communication system standardized in IEC. The proven
system has been in service on all Adtranz vehicles since many years. There was no need to
modi@ this technology for the US locomotives.

The battery circuits of electric locomotives in Germany and other European countries are
traditionally carried out in 110V. Special railway equipment for this voltage is available. For
the ALP 46,the American standard battery voltage 64V had to be used. For that modification
it was necessary to use some equipment that is not standard in Germany. As equipment for
this voltage is also available fkom the common suppliers this modification was not difficult.

However, the functionality of the control circuits had to be adapted to the particular demands
for operating and maintaining the locomotive. Also, implementing the American brake
control and cab signaling systems required several adaptations.

3.7 Brakes and brake controls

The basic function of the air brake controls - controlling the brakes of the train by decreasing
the air pressure in the brake pipe - is identical between Europe and the US. However, there
are many differences between the development in UIC countries compared with the systems
used in the AAR world.

For the ALP 46 the brake control system was completely changed fkom the European control
system to the American WABTEC EPIC system. For that purpose, the complete piping as
well as the air brake rack had to be redesigned. With regard to the piping, AAFt regulations
also had to be considered.

The main compressor however is a screw compressor fi-om Germany, which is proven in
many locomotives in Europe. This compressor is optimized with regard to space
consumption, weight and noise.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The mechanical brake in the trucks is a disc brake. Two ventilated discs are installed for each
axle. This arrangement is technically identical to the basic BRlOl locomotive and is also used
in all other locomotives with the identical truck. The European standard locomotives are
equipped with spring loaded parking brake, however this requires a lot of additional control
equipment to avoid damage by misuse or malfunction. To avoid any risk, for the ALP46 a
hand operated parking brake is used.

3.8 Drivers Cab

The drivers cab is a very sensitive issue, as the convenience for the engineers is important for
the acceptance of a new locomotive. The drivers cab used in the basic locomotive BRlOl
was developed over many years in a common project of German Railways DB and the
locomotive industry. All applicable UIC requirements are fulfded. It is a very spacious cab
with large entrance doors on each side of the cab and a center door for access to the
machinery compartment.Al1 inner surfaces for ceiling, sidewalls and drivers desk are fiom
glas-reinforced plastic material, so that the engineer feels very comfortable (Picture 9)

Picture 9: Drivers Cab Class 101

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

American locomotive cabs and the written ergonomic requirements for drivers environment
are mainly based on the long term development of cabs for US diesel locomotives. The
comparison of written requirements and the German drivers cab has shown, that the basic US
requirements are clearly fulfilled. Thus, it was not necessary to change the general layout.

Modifications had to be made with respect to the detailed functions of switches and
indicators. Even in the cab of the new ALP46, the engineers will fmd most of the switches
similar to the existing NJT ALP44 locomotives. For the very important component air
conditioning unit higher cooling capacity than typical in Europe was requested. This higher
cooling capacity could be installed within the compact heatingkooling unit installed in the
center of the drivers desk.

3 Experiences from the Project

It was a very exciting experience to Americanize an European locomotive. Some interesting

facts are mentioned here:

From the beginning of the project there was a very good partnership between customer,
consultants and suppliers engineers. There was never a wall between the different parties.
This fact was an excellent help for the project.

It was sometimes not easy for European railway engineers to understand the demands of
the customer. However, it was found out, that the European engineers are now purely
living in the world of modern three phase locomotives, while the American partners had
their experience mainly fiom the conventional technology.

Some requirements and standards have not been directly applicable to the European style
locomotive. When we investigated the reason or the sense for those requirements, it was
sometimes not easy or even impossible to get background information to enable a
llfillment at least in the sense of the requirement.

American suppliers for so-called standard material or standard systems are not always
ready to explain the systems or to modi@ components for optimized integration into the
vehicle. With respect to that, European suppliers are much more flexible.

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive
However, in reality the differences between Europe and North America are not such big and if
everybody tries to understand his partner from the other side of the Ocean things will work
out!

4 Facts from the Project

The project started in January 2000 after NJTs notice to proceed. After forming the project
team, the engineering was started in February and the main concepts for modification of the
basic BRlOl locomotive had been fmed about 3 month later. The detailed engineering was
finished in January 2001. Main components had been specified and ordered in April 2000.
Production was started in several places in Europe in October 2000 (Picture 10).

Picture 10: Artistic Impression ALP46

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New electric high Speed Locomotive with three Phase Drive

The first 2 locomotives will be shipped from Germany in summertime 2001. They will then
be tested for 3-4 months to prove the expected data and the fulfillment of the requirements.
For that purpose, one locomotive will run tests in Pueblo, the other locomotive will stay at
NJTs track for measurements, which must be carried out on the customers network.

The delivery of the next locomotives will than start in March 2002 and w
ill be finished in July
2002.

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