With the growing need for alternative energy sources, research into energy harvesting technologies has increased considerably in recent years. The particular case of energy harvesting on railways is a very recent area of research. Railways are continuously exposed to train loads, making it possible to extract energy from them which, using specific technologies, can be transformed into electrical energy. This paper deals with the development of energy harvesting technologies for railways, identifies the technologies that are being studied and developed, examines how such technologies can be divided into different classes and gives a technical analysis and comparison of those technologies, using the results achieved with prototypes.

Energy harvesting; renewable energy; energy conversion; railways