Cl.

Draft Specification Railway’s Comment RDSO Comment

No.
2 References IRISET Comments: IEEE 837 standard may be
Standards reference did not include IEEE included.
837 standard which talks about
exothermic welding which will make the
specification more stringent.
6 Acceptable Earth Resistance value WC R Comments: a) The acceptable Earth
(a) The acceptable earth resistance Resistance at earth MEEB
The acceptable Earth Resistance at earth MEEB busbar should not be mentioned as a part of the busbar shall not be more
shall not be more than 1 ohm. For achieving this value spec. because acceptance earth than 1 ohm has been
resistance varies from application to
more than one earth pits can be installed if necessary specified as standardized
application and for equipments from
depending upon the soil resistivity. for signaling installations.
vendor to vendor. Thus acceptance earth
resistance should be left to be specified For good earth, earth
In places where space is not available to provide parallel by the user. To meet that requirement resistance shall be
earth pits then longer earth rods may be provided. The whatever no. of electrodes are required lowest.
longer earth rods thus provided should be in multiples of should be provided. b) The content of second para
three meters. The multiple earth rods shall be (b) The content of second para is not has been included as per
connected with a suitable anticorrosive copper coupler. clear. It has been stated that longer rods recommendations of
should be provided in multiple of three manufacturers as a typical
meters. Higher multiples (depth of 9,12, case. May be deleted.
..meters) will be impossible to achieve.
This may be reviewed.

IRISET Comments: Railways may be decide the

To avoid vagueness during the time of number of Earth Pits for
execution, we propose Railways to achieving required earth
provide the details of soil resistivity at resistance (not more than 1
each location where the earth pits are to ohm) as per the soil
be installed; this will help in calculating resistivity at each location.
the number of earth pits required.
7. Components of Earthing & Bonding system IRISET Comments:
The components of Earthing & Bonding system are – Various components like earth electrode,
Earth Electrode, Earth enhancement material, Earth pits, earth enhancement compound,
Equipotential earth busbar, connecting cable & exothermic welding should be from a
single manufacturer. This will insists for
tape/strip and other associated accessories.
assurance of quality products and service
from the vendor and also will not allow
supply of any non-approved products.
All components are included
in para 7, except exothermic
welding since it is separate
item. Exothermic welding not
available so only approved
vendor will supply. The draft
specification for exothermic
welding is under process.

8.1 Earth Electrode IRISET Comments: Already specified as “The

 The earth electrode shall be made of high tensile low Value of quoting thickness of copper
carbon steel circular rods, molecularly bonded with quoting should be minimum 250 micron
copper on outer surface to meet the requirements of of 99.9% electrolyte grade copper.
Mentioning this will improve the
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 467-2007 or latest as
specification there by avoiding low quality
well as IEC 62561. Such copper bonded steel core rod material.
is preferred due to its overall combination of WC R Comments:
strength, corrosion resistance, low resistance path to Copper bonding is required to improve
earth and cost effectiveness. conductivity; however in less than the
 The earth electrode shall be UL listed and of cost of this type of electrodes we can get
minimum 17.0mm diameter and minimum 3.0mtrs. pure copper electrodes. The cost of
long. bonded electrodes goes up because of
 The minimum copper bonding thickness shall be of the requirement of UL approval etc,
250 microns of 99.9% electrolyte grade copper. whereas it continues to remain much
inferior to a pure copper electrode.
 Marking: Manufacturer’s name or trade name,
The pure copper electrode
length, diameter, catalogue number must be
recommended in the shape of a copper
punched on every earth electrode.
angle of 30mm/5mm and with a height of
 Earth electrode can be visually inspected, checked for
3 meters. The angle will have the
dimensions and thickness of copper coating using
advantage of connecting the bus bar
micron gauge. The supplier shall arrange for such through nuts and bolts
inspection at the time of supply, if so desired. copper/stainless steel. The arrangement
of connecting with nuts and bolts is highly
preferable as compared to exothermic
minimum copper bonding
thickness shall be of 250
microns of 99.9%
electrolyte grade copper”.
Copper bonded steel core
earth electrode has been
provided in line with UL
467-2007 and IEC 62561
due to its overall
combination of high tensile
strength, corrosion
resistance, low resistance
is
path to earth and cost
effectiveness. UL approval
has been specified to ensure
the quality of the material
there by avoiding low quality/
of
non-standard material.
Pure copper electrode of
same size or in the shape of a
copper angle of 30mm/5mm
 welding because of maintainability. is much costlier than the
Exothermic welding makes excellent Copper bonded steel core
connection initially but becomes brittle earth electrode & low
after sometimes in most of the cases. tensile strength. It is prone
Once it deteriorates it is not possible to to theft.
restore it to the same level without The arrangement of
carrying out exothermic welding again. connecting with nuts and
Carrying out exothermic welding again is bolts is not preferable as
not practicable in our system. The compared to exothermic
exothermic welding has been existing for welding because of
some or the other application for more maintainability, corrosion,
than 20 years on Indian Railways, but and high contact resistance.
even today Railways are not able to
maintain them. Once the exothermic In order to standardize the
weld goes off it is simply replaced by a exothermic welding
normal connections whether it is track connection process,
circuiting or earthing etc. Thus if nut and preparation of draft
bolt connection is possible it is an specification for exothermic
excellent alternative because it is welding connection is under
maintainable. The earthing arrangement process for vendor
is a maintained entity, with monthly development.
periodicity of normal maintenance and
yearly periodicity of measuring the earth
resistance. Thus any sulphations etc. if
able to take place at the nut/bolt joints, it
will get attended during maintenance. In
the case of copper bonded steel rod there
is no alternative but to go for exothermic
welding because of its round shape there
is no possibility of drilling holes for fixing
nuts & bolts.
8.4.1 Construction of unit earth pit: Refer typical installation WC R Comments:
drawing no. SDO/RDSO/E&B/001. Construction of unit earth pit:- Refer
 A hole of 100mm to 125mm dia shall be augured typical installation drawing no.
 /dug to a depth of about 2.8 meters. SDO/RDSO/E&B/001.
 The earth electrode shall be placed into this hole. (a) Exothermic welding should be avoided Exothermic welding is
 It will be penetrated into the soil by gently driving on as brought out in previous para. preferred for earthing
(b) Tinned copper lugs should be used to connections & bonding
the top of the rod. Here natural soil is assumed to be
make connections to the bus bar with the because of maintainability,
available at the bottom of the electrode so that min.
help of SS/copper nuts and bolts. non corrosiveness, and low
150 mm of the electrode shall be inserted in the contact resistance in
natural soil. comparison to Nut & Bolts.
 Earth enhancement material (minimum approx. 30- Also connections are one
35 kg) shall be filled into the augured/dug hole in time job in E&B, there is no
slurry form and allowed to set. After the material regular opening & closing of
gets set, the diameter of the composite structure connections required. Copper
(earth electrode + earth enhancement material) shall lugs may be tinned copper
be of minimum 100mm dia covering entire length of lugs.
the hole.
 Remaining portion of the hole shall be covered by
backfill soil, which is taken out during auguring
/digging.
 A copper strip of 300mmX25mmX6mm shall be
exothermically welded to main earth electrode for
taking the connection to the main equi-potential
earth busbar in the equipment room and to other
earth pits, if any.
 Exothermic weld material shall be and tested as per
provisions of IEEE 837 by NABL/ILAC member labs.
 The main earth pit shall be located as near to the
main equi-potential earth busbar in the equipment
room as possible.

8.4.2 Construction of loop Earth by providing multiple earth WC R Comments:

pits Construction of loop earth by providing
At certain locations, it may not be possible to achieve multiple earth pits:- a) The acceptable Earth
 earth resistance of ≤1ohm with one earth electrode /pit (a) As stated in remarks of item no. 6 Resistance at earth
due to higher soil resistivity. In such cases, provision of above, the earth resistance value should MEEB busbar shall not
loop earth consisting of more than one earth pit shall be be left to the user. be more than 1 ohm
done. The number of pits required shall be decided (b) Instead of exothermic welding the has been specified as
copper angle’s flat portion should be
based on the resistance achieved for the earth pits standardized for
connected with the help of nuts and bolts
already installed. The procedure mentioned above for signaling installations.
after drilling holes.
one earth pit shall be repeated for other earth pits. For good earth, earth
The distance between two successive earth electrodes resistance shall be
shall be min. 3mtrs. and max. up to twice the length of lowest.
the earth electrode i.e. 6 mtrs. approx. b) Copper bonded steel
These earth pits shall then be inter linked using core earth electrode
25X3mm. copper tape or 8mm round solid copper has been provided in
conductor to form a loop using exothermic welding line with UL 467-2007
technique. and IEC 62561 due to
The interconnecting conductor shall be buried at depth its overall combination
not less than 500mm below the ground level. This of high tensile strength,
interconnecting conductor shall also be covered with corrosion resistance,
approximately 10Kg of earth enhancing compound low resistance path to
earth and cost
effectiveness.
8.5.1 Equi-potential earth busbars WC R Comments:
There shall be one equi-potential earth busbar for each The term copper lugs should be replaced Copper lugs may be tinned
of the equipment room i.e. IPS/Battery charger room with “Tinned Copper Lugs”. In the last copper lugs.
and EI/Relay room. The equi-potential earth busbars para after spring washers, this may be
added “copper/SS nuts and bolts”.
located in individual rooms shall be termed as Sub equi-
potential busbars (SEEB). The equi-potential earth
busbar located in the IPS /Battery charger room and
directly connected to Class ‘B’ SPDs and the main earth
pit shall be termed as Main equi-potential earth busbar
(MEEB).
The EEBs shall have pre-drilled holes of suitable size for
 termination of bonding conductors. The EEBs shall be
insulated from the building walls. Each EEB shall be
installed on the wall with low voltage insulator spacers
of height 60mm. The insulators used shall have suitable
insulating and fire resistant properties for this
application. The EEBs shall be installed at the height of
0.5m from the room floor surface for ease of installation
& maintenance. All terminations on the EEBs shall be by
using copper lugs with spring washers.
8.5.2 Bonding Connections WC R Comments:
(a) To have a proper appreciation it will The typical drawing to make
To minimize the effect of circulating earth loops and to be better to make a typical drawing and the standard bonding
provide equi-potential bonding, “star type” bonding explain the standard bonding connections between MEEB
connection is required. As such, each of the SEEBs connections. & SEEB has already been
(b) The bonding conductors should be given in Drawing
installed in the rooms shall be directly connected to
bonded to their respective lugs by no.SDO/RDSO/E&B/002. In
MEEB using bonding conductors. Also, equipment/racks “Crimping” and not by exothermic spite of Crimping the
in the room shall be directly connected to its SEEB. The welding. Crimping gives an excellent and bonding conductors has
bonding conductors shall be bonded to their respective permanent connection which is been bonded to their
lugs by exothermic welding. maintainable also. When required the lug respective lugs by
can be replaced by the staff at site by exothermic welding to
using simple crimping tool.
have good contact.
8.5.4 Materials and dimensions of bonding components for WC R Comments:
connection of individual equipments with equipotential For provision of earth connection to SPDs, The earth connection to SPDs
bus bar and earth electrode shall be as given below. a SEEB should be provided about 6 inches is connected directly from
Component/Bonding Material Size below the SPD box. This SEEB should be MEEB. No intermediate
Main equipotential earth Copper 300X25X6 connected to the MEEB through a 25 x 3 connection using SEEB is
busbar (MEEB) mm copper tape or 35 square mm copper permitted. Multi-strand
(min.) cable with the help of crimped tinned single core PVC insulated
Sub equipotential earth busbar Copper 150X25X6
(SEEB) mm
copper lugs with SS/Copper nuts and copper cable of 16sq.mm as
(min.) bolts. per IS:694 has been specified
Individual equipments to SEEB Multi-strand single core PVC 10 sq.mm for connection of Surge
using copper lugs with stainless insulated copper cable as
steel nut and bolts.
SEEB to MEEB using copper
lugs with stainless steel nut
and bolts.
Surge protection devices (SPD)
to MEEB using copper lugs with
stainless steel nut and bolts.
MEEB to main earth electrode
Main earth pit to other earth
pit in case of loop earth
per IS:694 protection devices (SPD) to
MEEB using copper lugs with
Multi-strand single core PVC 16 sq.mm
insulated copper cable as
stainless steel nut and bolts.
per IS:694
Multi-strand single core PVC 16sq.mm
insulated copper cable as
per IS:694
Multi-strand single core PVC 35sq.mm
insulated copper cable as
per IS:694 (Duplicated)
Copper tape OR solid 25X2 mm
copper round conductor or 8mm
dia
12 TESTS AND REQUIREMENTS ……… WC R Comments: Copper bonded steel core
If the electrode is changed to pure copper earth electrode has been
electrode as suggested, these provided in line with UL
requirements will change. Any of the 467-2007 and IEC 62561
Indian laboratories will be able to certify
due to its overall
the purity of copper, no more tests will be
combination of high tensile
required.
strength, corrosion
resistance, low resistance
path to earth and cost
effectiveness. UL approval
has been specified to ensure
the quality of the material
there by avoiding low quality/
non-standard material.

12.2.3 Type test on Exothermic welding connection IRISET Comments: The acceptance & type test
MECHANICAL PULLOUT TEST as per IEEE has been selected in line with
837 …2002. The test intended to ensure UL 467-2007 and IEC
the reliability (of grounding systems) 62561 to ensure the
against mechanical abuse and reliability of grounding
electromagnetic forces on the systems. Mechanical pullout
exothermically welded portion with the test as per IEEE 837 …2002 is
electrode. for welding connection.
- Drawings: IRISET Comments:
Drg No. SDO/RDSO/E&B001 SHEET 1OF 1(Page no.12 of 8mm round solid copper conductor Accepted, drawing may be
spec) should be shown along with 25mmX2mm changed accordingly to para 3
copper strip. of clause no. 8.4.2.
Class A type lightning protection and its
Drg No. SDO/RDSO/E&B002 SHEET 1OF 1(Page no.13 of arrangement has to be included in the There is no national/
spec) diagram. international standard
WC R Comments: available for Class A type
Drawing of typical bonding and earth lightning protection, so it is
connections:- The drawing shows one not covered.
MEEB and some SEEBs in a discrete
manner. There is one more drawing Drawing issued by RDSO for
issued by RDSO for earthing and bonding earthing and bonding of EIs is
of EIs. These two drawings are quite as per application & vendor
different. The difference in application of specific. Similarly drawing for
these drawing is not very clear. It will PI may also be issued by the
therefore be preferable to make a concerned wing.
detailed drawing each for EI and PI
installations, only two drawings will be
required because we have now only two
types of installations i.e. EI and PI.