Hierarchical eco-driving and energy management control for hydrogen powered hybrid trains

•A hierarchical structure of three MPCs is proposed to optimize eco-driving control and energy management.•The eco-driving control is implemented by two MPCs with long and short horizon respectively, which are adaptive to external disturbances such as TRSs.•A precision stop mode is introduced in the eco-driving control to ensure on-time arrival.•A PMP-derived cost function is introduced to the MPC in EMS to improve fuel economy and battery charge sustaining. Climate change and emissions reductions are important issues on the rail industry’s agenda. The use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel for rail brings many potential benefits, most notably that it is a clean energy source and supports zero carbon strategies. Compared to fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel cell technology can also provide a more powerful and efficient energy output. In this work, we explore the possibility of reducing the overall operating cost of hydrogen and battery-powered trains, from train eco-driving control to energy distribution along the power chain, while satisfying safety, punctuality, and energy efficiency of travel. To address this multi-objective problem, we split it into a long-horizon model predictive controller (MPC) to optimize the driving profile online, a short-horizon MPC to ensure on-time train operation, and an energy management MPC to distribute fuel cell and battery power to achieve energy savings and battery charge sustaining. Finally, simulations are performed with realistic railway routes to verify fuel economy, charge sustaining, location accuracy and robustness to temporary speed restrictions (TSR). The results show the superiority of the proposed hierarchical control.