Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Third-rail systems are a means of providing electric traction power to trains using an additional rail (called a "conductor rail") for the purpose. On most systems, the conductor rail is placed on the sleeper ends outside the running rails, but in some systems a central conductor rail is used.
Railway electrification as a means of traction emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, although experiments in electric rail have been traced back to the mid-nineteenth century. [1] Thomas Davenport , in Brandon, Vermont , erected a circular model railroad on which ran battery-powered locomotives (or locomotives running on battery-powered ...
Railway electrification is the development of powering trains and locomotives using electricity instead of diesel or steam power.The history of railway electrification dates back to the late 19th century when the first electric tramways were introduced in cities like Berlin, London, and New York City.
Modern European systems predominantly make use of bottom or side contact power rails. There are numerous urban rail systems, including these running mostly in tunnels, which do not use third rail at all. Such systems can be found in Asia, which may have been influenced by the overhead power supply formula followed by Tokyo Metro after 1960
Converted to 25 kV 50 Hz as a test bed for the future main line electrification system South London line: London Victoria to London Bridge: 1909–1928 Converted to 660 V (later 750 V) DC third-rail supply 8 kV: 25 Hz Germany: Karlsruhe: Alb Valley Railway: 1911–1966, today using 750 V DC 10 kV Netherlands: The Hague – Rotterdam: Hofpleinlijn
Dual electrification is a system whereby a railway line is supplied power both via overhead catenary and a third rail. This is done to enable trains that use either system of power to share the same railway line, for example in the case of mainline and suburban trains (as used at Hamburg S-Bahn between 1940 and 1955).
These systems can be used to convert three-phase 50 Hz or 60 Hz alternating current (AC) for the supply of AC railway electrification systems at a lower frequency and single phase, as used by many older systems, or to rectify AC into direct current (DC) for those systems (primarily public transit systems) using DC for traction power. The three ...
The third rail system resulted, not surprisingly, in a number of accidents. It also resulted in a decree from the Connecticut Supreme Court on June 13, 1906 forbidding the use of third rail electrification within the state. [2] The New Haven was forced by this decision to design their main line electrification system using overhead catenary.