With the official commencement of the 'International Standardization of Railway Wireless Power Transfer Technology' led by Korea for the first time, it is expected to lay the foundation for the future commercialization of related technologies and secure a leading position in overseas markets.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Won Hee-ryong), the Korea Railroad Research Institute, and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology announced that they will pursue the establishment of international standards for railway wireless power transfer technology by 2026.

To this end, on May 9 and 10, the kick-off meeting of the International Standardization Working Group (IEC/TC9/PT63495) to establish railway wireless power transfer technology led by Korea as an international standard will be held at the International Conference Room of the Korea Railroad Research Institute.

This meeting marks the official launch of the Working Group (IEC/TC9/PT63495) for the establishment of international standards regarding interoperability and safety of railway wireless power transfer systems, and it holds great significance in that it is the first time in the railway sector that international standards are being established using technology proposed by Korea.

This working group is holding its first meeting following the approval of the international standard draft proposed by Korea (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Institute of Railways, and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) to the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in December 2018 as a Project Team (PT) in March 2023 after discussions in the Ad'Hoc Group (AHG), and aims to complete its enactment by 2026.

Until now, the railway system has supplied electricity only through overhead lines.The conventional method was overhead line power supply, whereas wireless power transfer is a technology that supplies power wirelessly while a railway vehicle is moving or stopped.

The wireless power supply system intended to be established as an international standard has remarkable advantages, such as improved safety due to the absence of the risk of electric shock accidents compared to overhead line power supply, and improved urban environment due to the absence of dust and noise caused by contact with overhead lines.

In addition, since it allows for the omission of overhead catenary installation compared to the conventional method, major countries such as France and Japan are developing related technologies due to various advantages, including reduced construction costs resulting from a decrease in tunnel cross-sectional area, alleviation of constraints on station location selection, and minimization of urban space separation caused by catenary lines.

This meeting will focus on discussing the coil type, a key component for the interoperability and safety of wireless power transfer during railway operation, and Korea plans to propose an elliptical coil system.

Participating countries have shown great interest, as building a wireless power supply system using the elliptical coil method proposed by Korea can reduce costs to less than half of those of the circular coil method developed in Europe and other countries.

It is expected that once the wireless power transfer system is established as an international standard, it will lay the foundation for the commercialization of railway wireless power transfer technology by ensuring interoperability between railway vehicles and facilities and creating an environment safe from electromagnetic waves.

Jeong Chae-kyo, Director General of Railway Safety Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, “Through the push to establish this international standard, Korea is expected to lead railway wireless power transfer technology and lay the foundation for securing a leading position in overseas markets,” adding, “We will continue our efforts to ensure that excellent technologies developed in Korea are adopted as international standards in the future.”