"Promotion of Establishing International Standards for Railway Wireless Power Supply Technology by 2026"

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 8th that it will promote the establishment of international standards for railway wireless power supply technology by 2026 in collaboration with the Korea Railroad Research Institute and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.

Wireless Power Supply System for Light Rail Developed by Korea Railroad Research Institute / Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

To this end, the kickoff meeting of the international standardization working group (IEC/TC9/PT63495) will be held on the 9th and 10th. This is the first time that international standardization work has been carried out based on technology proposed by Korea in the railway sector. The international standard proposal submitted by Korea to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 2018 was discussed by an ad hoc working group and was approved as an official project team in March this year. The goal is to complete the establishment by 2026.

The wireless power supply method is a technology that supplies power wirelessly to railway vehicles during running or stopping. Compared to the conventional overhead line power supply, which is only done through catenary wires, it has the advantage of improved safety as there is no risk of electric shock accidents, and no dust or noise caused by contact with the catenary, thus enhancing safety and improving the urban environment.

Additionally, by omitting the installation of catenary wires, it offers benefits such as reduced tunnel cross-sectional area leading to construction cost savings, relaxed constraints when selecting station locations, and minimized urban space division caused by catenary wires. Major countries such as France and Japan are also developing related technologies.

Korea plans to propose an elliptical coil method. In this regard, the meeting will focus on the coil shape, a key device for interoperability and safety of wireless power supply during railway operation. When building a wireless power supply system using the elliptical coil method, costs can be reduced to less than half compared to the circular coil method developed by European and other countries.

Jung Chae-kyo, Director of Railway Safety Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, "Through the promotion of this international standard establishment, Korea is expected to lead railway wireless power supply technology and lay the foundation for securing overseas markets," adding, "We will continue to strive to have excellent technologies developed by Korea established as international standards."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.