Railway Rolling Stocks' Long Parking Strategies for Energy Saving

In recent years, the energy crisis has even more encouraged the research on energy consumption reduction in railways. This process of optimization of the energy consumption has been engaged for a long time at SNCF Voyageurs (the main railway operator for passengers' transportation in France). Firstly, the studies were focused on energy savings during service, but it became noticeable that a large part of energy is spent during standstill (parking phase). In this paper, first a brief historical review of the applied parking strategies at SNCF Voyageurs will be presented. Followed by a detailed analysis of the current energy saving modes deployed on trains and their observed benefits. Finally, the future “panto down” strategy's operational challenges and technical constraints will be exposed along with its attractive energy savings.