Regenerative Braking

Regenerative braking is an energy recovery system that provides traction control by harnessing the otherwise wasted kinetic energy from braking and storing it for later use. Rather than allowing the energy to be transferred to heat energy via the brakes and dissipated into the atmosphere, the energy is either stored on-board the rolling stock or in track-side equipment and can be used for traction power as well as powering infrastructure. The energy is stored chemically in a battery, electrically in capacitors, or mechanically in a rotating flywheel.