INTERNATIONAL PRACTICES IN THE DIGITAL AUTOMATION OF RAILWAY TRACTION POWER SYSTEMS

Abstract

Digital automation of railway traction power supply is promoted as a way to reduce energy use and improve supply quality, but the evidence behind reported benefits is heterogeneous: measured results, pilot data, simulations, manufacturer claims and policy targets are often cited together. The aim was to compare international practices in the digital automation of traction power systems critically and to assess the conditions for their transfer to Kazakhstan. A structured scoping review reported according to PRISMA-ScR was combined with a comparative multiple-case analysis. OpenAlex was searched on 10 October 2026 (2016–2026) with five strings, supplemented by operator and agency sources. 292 unique records were screened in two independent passes (Cohen’s kappa 0.70); 56 studies were included, together with 7 documents from other sources. Only 10 studies reported field implementation or field experiments, 46 relied on models or hardware-in-the-loop tests driven by measured data, and 41 used data from China; no field evidence on the cybersecurity of traction power control was found. Of six national cases, four (Spain, Japan, Russia, South Africa) report measured effects for reversible substations, wayside storage and protection data analytics; the Chinese field experiments are not quantified, the Swiss case reports no outcome, and evidence on flexible traction substations and digital twins is mainly model-based. The novelty is an explicit evidence hierarchy combined with a criteria-based transferability assessment for Kazakhstan; a proposed six-stage framework can guide pilot selection on KTZ lines. The main limitation is the use of one open index, with most studies assessed at abstract level.