| Summary: | Railway lines in Poland are either equipped with 3 kV DC traction system or not electrified for traction purpose. Presently maximum line speed is 200 km/h while maximum train speed is 250 km/h. Speeding up limit for 3 kV DC traction is estimated to be around 220-230 km/h. Already present in Poland trains for 250 km/h are equipped with three electric power supply systems: 3 kV DC used in Poland, 15 kV 16,7 Hz AC used in Germany, and 25 kV 50 Hz AC foreseen to be used in Poland on high speed lines. Introducing 25 kV 50 Hz AC traction power supply will be associated with safety challenges, which have to be taken into account already during constructioning, starting even at the predesigned phase. Two key questions arise. First of all question regarding methodology, which should be used for safety level acceptance and secondly how to ensure that all safety aspects will be taken into account. Answering first question for railway safety experts seems to be easy – let’s apply risk assessment and evaluation methodology described by EU regulation under Railway Safety Directive. The challenge is however to define risk acceptance criteria which will be required, and that is analysed in the paper. The second challenge is even more challenging. Author proposes using 10-by-10 safety matrix which was defined by the author in previous publications [9, 10]. Its concept as well as principles for its application for new type of power supply is also presented in the paper.
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