New SCADA/EMS concept of the Swiss Federal Railways

Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) rolling stock functions on a 16 kV 16 2/3 Hz single phase supply. As a consequence SBB operates it´s own power system consisting of hydro power stations and frequency converter stations. As energy consumption and SBB´s generating capacity increased, with the increasing number and size of power stations, SBB commissioned a group of specialists to study and propose a country-wide supervisory control and data acquisition/energy management system (SCADA/EMS) concept in order to maintain a reliable power supply to the railway system. The proposed SCADA/EMS concept consists of a hierarchical system with three SCADA systems one in each of the western, central and eastern regions, each communicating with remote terminal units (RTUs) distributed around its own region. These three SCADA systems supplied by ABB Switzerland are linked to a central EMS system supplied by Siemens-Empros of the USA on a higher level. Today almost all the systems in different levels are in operation or being commissioned and once completed SBB will have one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art railway SCADA/EMS systems in Europe. This paper describes the new SBB SCADA/EMS concept, the functionality of the different systems in various levels, the centre-centre links used for intercentre communication as well as special functions integrated into the system on SBB´s request