IEC 61850 on wheels: The integrated traction protection network

The use of IEC 61850 protection and control in power system substations is the modern standard. As well as its established use in three-phase national power systems, it is being increasingly applied to railway electrification networks, and offering increased functionality and performance. This paper considers this extension of traction substation networks utilising the IEC 61850 architecture to include trains, and proposes an integrated architecture for such a network. The challenges of network communications for such a dynamic system are considered, as well as the principles and concepts which would shape the development the logical nodes of the architecture. The paper also presents a dynamic protection scheme, utilising the integrated architecture and designed to address the limitations of existing traction protection schemes.