Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy-En:Lab
Name of Member: Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy
Acronym: PoliMI E-mail: morris.brenna@polimi.it, hamed.jafari@polimi.it, dario.zaninelli@polimi.it
Telephone: +39 0223993742, +39 02 2399 3915, +39 02 2399 3802
Address: Politecnico di Milano – Campus Bovisa
Department of Energy (En:Lab / Building B18)
Via Lambruschini 6a, 20156, Milan, Italy
Acronym: PoliMI E-mail: morris.brenna@polimi.it, hamed.jafari@polimi.it, dario.zaninelli@polimi.it
Telephone: +39 0223993742, +39 02 2399 3915, +39 02 2399 3802
Address: Politecnico di Milano – Campus Bovisa
Department of Energy (En:Lab / Building B18)
Via Lambruschini 6a, 20156, Milan, Italy
Politecnico di Milano is a leading public scientific-technological university that educates engineers, architects, and industrial designers. The University has consistently prioritized excellence and innovation in both teaching and research, fostering strong collaborations with industry through experimental research and technological transfer. Research represents a strategic commitment for Politecnico di Milano, enabling the University to achieve internationally recognized results and to strengthen the connection between academia and the railway and transportation industries. The University is part of several prestigious international networks, including IDEALeague, Alliance4Tech, and Enhance.
The Department of Energy (https://www.energia.polimi.it/en/) conducts high-quality research and education in energy engineering, with significant activities dedicated to railway energy systems. Research focuses on railway electrification, traction power systems, energy conversion technologies for rolling stock, smart railway grids, and energy efficiency in rail transport. Advanced experimental laboratories and real-time simulation platforms complement strong theoretical expertise, supporting innovative solutions for sustainable and high-performance railway systems.
Within the Department of Energy, the Electric Transportation research group is strongly engaged in research on railway electrified systems. Railway-related research at the Department addresses:
- railway electrification and traction power-supply systems;
- AC, DC and future medium-voltage DC railway networks;
- traction substations and reversible or bidirectional substations;
- power electronic converters for rolling stock and railway infrastructure;
- regenerative-braking energy recovery and reuse;
- onboard and wayside energy-storage systems;
- railway smart grids, microgrids and energy hubs;
- integration of renewable energy and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure;
- railway power quality, harmonics, voltage imbalance and compensation;
- railway power flow controllers and active power-quality conditioners;
- digital twins and real-time modelling of railway power systems;
- Hardware-in-the-Loop and Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop validation;
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cyber-security of railway systems and infrastructures.
The group combines system-level railway modelling, electromagnetic and power-quality analysis, optimisation, energy-management design, converter-level control, real-time simulation and experimental validation. Research activities are frequently developed in collaboration with railway operators, infrastructure managers, technology providers and other academic institutions.
A major research infrastructure supporting these activities is the Power Electronics, Mobility and Electrical Safety Laboratory (PEEMS). The laboratory is multidisciplinary and focuses on electrical systems for mobility, energy-storage systems, power electronic converters and electrical safety.
In the railway sector, PEEMS provides research and technical capabilities for:
- analysis, testing and development of power electronic converters;
- modelling and validation of railway traction power-supply networks;
- development and testing of active and reversible traction substations;
- characterisation and life-cycle testing of stationary and onboard storage systems;
- assessment of railway power quality and grid interaction;
- analysis and verification of electrical safety systems;
- real-time and Hardware-in-the-Loop simulation of railway electrical systems;
- converter-controller and protection-system validation before field implementation;
- digital-twin-oriented modelling and experimental validation.
The laboratory is equipped with an OPAL-RT OP5707XG real-time simulation platform, power electronic converters, control hardware, energy-storage testing facilities and electrical measurement and safety equipment. The infrastructure supports Controller-Hardware-in-the-Loop, Hardware-in-the-Loop and Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop studies of railway grids, traction substations, converters, energy-storage devices and coordinated energy-management systems.
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Prof. Morris Brenna, PhD: (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6929-0523) is a Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano, he has more than 20 years of research experience in electrical power systems, railway electrification, traction power supply systems, smart grids, and energy management. His research activity focuses on the analysis, modeling, and optimization of electrical networks, with particular emphasis on railway power systems, energy storage integration, power quality, and the electrification of transportation systems. He is the author of numerous scientific publications in the field of power and railway electrical systems and has been the principal investigator or scientific coordinator for Politecnico di Milano in several research projects funded by industry partners and the European Commission. Prof. Brenna actively collaborates with major industrial stakeholders in the railway and energy sectors and contributes to international research initiatives on sustainable mobility and advanced electrification systems. He is involved in editorial and scientific activities within the power and transportation electrification research community. He is a member of the Italian Electrical Association (AEIT) and the Italian Group of Railway Engineers (CIFI), actively contributing to the advancement of research and innovation in railway and transportation electrification systems.
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Prof. Hamed Jafari Kaleybar, PhD: (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2453-8070), is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano. He previously served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the same department, contributing to research activities in railway and transportation electrification systems. He has more than 20 years of research experience in electrical power systems, railway electrification, traction power supply systems, and smart grids. His research activity focuses on electric transportation systems, with particular emphasis on electric railways, railway electrification networks, traction power supply systems, and the integration of renewable energy sources into transportation infrastructures. His interests also include power quality control techniques, smart grids, energy management strategies, and advanced power electronic converters for railway and mobility applications. His work combines system-level modeling, real-time simulation, and experimental validation to enhance the efficiency, reliability, and sustainability of electrified railway systems. He is the author of more than 86 scientific publications in the fields of railway power systems and transportation electrification. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the IEEE Transactions on Transportation Electrification and is a member of the Italian Group of Railway Engineering (CIFI), actively contributing to innovation and research in railway and electric transportation systems.
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Prof. Dario Zaninelli, PhD: (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9837-3096), is a Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano, where he obtained both his Master’s degree and PhD in Electrical Engineering. He currently serves as Vice Rector of the Piacenza Territorial Campus and previously held the position of Chair of the Degree Programme in Transport and Logistics Engineering. His research activity, documented by more than 250 scientific publications, focuses on electrical systems for transportation, electrical safety and safety-management procedures, power quality, and electrical power systems. Appointed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as a member of the Council of the Italian Electrotechnical Committee (CEI), he was also nominated by the President of the Council of Ministers as an expert in electrical systems on the Special Committee for nationally significant infrastructure projects financed through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), established within the Italian Superior Council of Public Works. Among the numerous other institutional positions he has held, he is a full member of the Provincial Supervisory Commission for Public Entertainment Venues at the Prefecture of Milan, with responsibility for electrical safety matters. In the past, he also served on the Road Tunnel Safety Commission and the Railway Tunnel Safety Commission of the Italian Superior Council of Public Works. He holds the title of Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and has received an Honorary Degree in Energy Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.
-FUNDRES – Future Unified DC Railway Electrification System,
Programme: Horizon 2020 – Shift2Rail
Grant Agreement: No. 881772
Implementation period: December 2019–November 2021
Grant Agreement: No. 881772
Implementation period: December 2019–November 2021
FUNDRES investigated a future unified railway-electrification architecture based on a 9 kV medium-voltage DC system. The project examined the progressive integration of existing railway electrification systems during the transition towards a unified DC architecture.
– MOST – National Centre for Sustainable Mobility, Spoke 4: Rail Transportation
Programme: Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan – PNRR
Funding framework: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Implementation period: September 2022–August 2025
Funding framework: European Union – NextGenerationEU
Implementation period: September 2022–August 2025
Politecnico di Milano was the leader of Spoke 4 – Rail Transportation within the MOST National Centre for Sustainable Mobility. The Department of Energy participated in research addressing the energy and electrical aspects of future railway systems.
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Energy Management System Implementation at Milano Bovisa Railway Station – FERROVIENORD
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Assessment and Development of LTO Battery Systems for Railway Locomotive Applications – Trenord
· Recent selected Publications:
- H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Brenna and D. Zaninelli, “Real-Time PHIL Platform for High-Fidelity Evaluation of Next-Generation Reversible DC Traction Substations,” IEEE Access, 2026, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2026.3689636.
- D. Zaninelli, H. Jafari Kaleybar and M. Brenna, “Modeling and Evaluation of Reversible Traction Substations in DC Railway Systems: A Real-Time Simulation Platform Toward a Digital Twin,” Applied Sciences, vol. 16, art. 80, 2026, doi: 10.3390/app16010080.
- H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Brenna, F. Foiadelli and D. Zaninelli, “Electric Railway System Integrated With EV Charging Station Realizing Train-to-Vehicle Technology,” IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 74, no. 2, pp. 2572–2586, 2025, doi: 10.1109/TVT.2023.3294674.
- H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Brenna and M. Roscia, “Adaptive Control Strategy for Power Flow Controller With Disturbance Mitigation Using Discrete Wavelet Transform in Renewable Energy Source Integrated Railway Systems,” IEEE Access, 2025, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3594572.
- H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Davoodi, M. Brenna and D. Zaninelli, “Applications of Genetic Algorithm and Its Variants in Rail Vehicle Systems: A Bibliometric Analysis and Comprehensive Review,” IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 68972–68993, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3292790.
- H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Golnargesi, M. Brenna and D. Zaninelli, “Hybrid Energy Storage System Taking Advantage of Electric Vehicle Batteries for Recovering Regenerative Braking Energy in Railway Station,” Energies, vol. 16, no. 13, art. 5117, 2023.
- S. Najafi Larijani, S. S. Fazel, M. Bozorg and H. Jafari Kaleybar, “Operation-Aware System Design for Synergistic Integration of Regenerative Braking Energy of Railway Systems into EV Fast Charging Stations,” IEEE Access, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3327222.
- M. Ahmadi, H. Jafari Kaleybar, M. Brenna, F. Castelli Dezza and M. S. Carmeli, “Integration of Distributed Energy Resources and EV Fast-Charging Infrastructure in High-Speed Railway Systems,” Electronics, vol. 10, no. 20, art. 2555, 2021, doi: 10.3390/electronics10202555.
- M. Brenna, F. Foiadelli and H. Jafari Kaleybar, “The Evolution of Railway Power Supply Systems Toward Smart Microgrids: The Concept of the Energy Hub and Integration of Distributed Energy Resources,” IEEE Electrification Magazine, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 12–23, 2020.
- M. Brenna, F. Foiadelli and D. Zaninelli, “Electromagnetic Model of High-Speed Railway Lines for Power Quality Studies,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2010. The study developed and experimentally validated a detailed electromagnetic model of an AC 2 × 25 kV high-speed railway line.
Railway Electrification; Sustainable Rail Transport; Traction Power-Supply Systems; AC and DC Railway Networks; Medium-Voltage DC Railway Electrification; 9 kV DC Railway Systems; Smart Railway Grids; Railway Microgrids; Railway Energy Hubs; Railway Energy-Management Systems; Renewable-Energy Integration; Active Traction Substations; Reversible Traction Substations; Bidirectional Traction Substations; Regenerative-Braking Energy Recovery; Onboard Energy Storage; Wayside Energy Storage; Hybrid Energy-Storage Systems; Railway Power Electronics; PWM Rectifiers; Railway Power Quality; Railway Power Flow Controllers; Railway Power-Quality Compensators; Traction Motors and Drives; Overhead Contact Systems; Catenary Systems; Digital Twins for Railway Electrification; Real-Time Simulation; Hardware-in-the-Loop; Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop; OPAL-RT; Electrical Safety; Superconducting Railway Electrification; Electric-Vehicle and Railway Integration; Train-to-Vehicle Energy Transfer.