666 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY AND GENERAL APPLICATIONS, VOL. IGA-7, NO.

5, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1971

A Survey of Western European AC Electrified

Railway Supply Substation and Catenary
System Techniques and Standards
BLAIR A. ROSS, SENIOR MEMBER, IEEE

Abstract-British and Western European experience, design tion and radio interference experience and suppression
standards, and techniques associated with electrified railway power techniques; and construction time and cost breakdown
supply facilities are outlined. Aspects surveyed include utility
supply to commercial frequency railway loads, substation design data.
standards, catenary system design and maintenance, telecommunica- The techniques presented are confined to those which
tion and radio interference experience and suppression techniques, are believed adaptable for use on railroad supply systems
costs, and construction time. This survey outlines information operated at 25-kV commercial frequency. Basic data and
obtained during 1967 visits with state railway, power system, and experience on the French and British 25-kV 50-Hz and the
manufacturing company engineers in Great Britain, France, Ger- German and Swedish 15-16kV 162/3-Hz systems are
many, and Sweden. The survey confines itself to experiences and
data which are believed applicable to commercial frequency (60- outlined. Since it is believed that most future United
Hz) 25-kV electrification. A substantial part of the European railway States electrifications will be on single or double track
catenary system and railway substation technology and experience lines, catenary designs outlined are those applicable to
outlined in the survey appears applicable to future American railway single or double track iinstallations only.
electrifications. The basic information presented in this paper was
obtained from: 1) discussions with engineers responsible
INTRODUCTION for the electrification planning, substations, and catenary
IN THE LAST 20 years the mileage of electrically systems of the British, French, German, and Swedish
operated railways has increased threefold with the State Railway Systems; 2) discussions with the Central
majority of this increase occurring in Europe, the USSR, Electricity Generating Board-British State Power Sys-
Japan, India, and South Africa. Planned increases should tem-(CEGB) and Electricity de France-French State
raise world mileage from today's 57 000 to approximately Power System (EDF) planning engineers responsible
100 000 route mi by 1975. Increased interest in future for service to 50-Hz single-phase railway loads; 3) dis-
United States railroad electrification is evidenced by the cussions with engineers of British, German, French,
Edison Electric Institute's establishment of an Electri- Swedish, and Swiss manufacturers engaged in the supply
fication Committee, the joint utility-railroad electrification and erection of equipment used in ac electrification; and
study of the New York Central's New York-Cleveland 4) various technical papers, specifications, and booklets
Line, the construction of the commercial frequency furnished by the previously listed engineers.
(60 Hz)- 25-kV Muskingum Electric Railroad by the
American Electric' Power System, and preliminary UTILITY SUPPLY TO 50-Hz LOADS
electrification studies by railroads and power companies Great Britain (CEGB)
in the western United States. 1) The railway is not allowed to operate 25-kV system
Because of the extensive mileages electrified since 1955 in parallel with power transmission system.
at commercial frequency (50 to 60 Hz), a major portion of 2) Specify the phase to which the substations will be
the recent advances in railway electrification engineering connected in order to-obtain maximum load balance.
and construction techniques has been related to Western 3) Maximum allowed unbalance between phase voltages
European and British electrification work. This paper is 5 percent.
presents a survey of Western European-British practice 4) One would not consider overbuilding catenary with
in: utility supply of railway loads at commercial fre- transmission lines because of a) effects on railway for
quency; railway supply substation design and facilities; conductor or insulator failure and b) difficulty of main-
catenary system design and maintenance; telecommunica- taining transmission lines.
5) Have a computer program which includes negative
Paper 71 TP 42-IGA, approved by the Land Transportation sequence system representation for the study of railway
Committee of the IEEE IGA Group for presentation at the 1968
IEEE-ASME Joint Railroad Conference, Chicago, Ill., March loads.
27-28. Manuscript received June 11, 1971. 6) Railway ra-te bills on simultaneous peak demand in
The author is with American Electric Power Service Corporation,
New York, N. Y. 10008. mW rather than on individual station peaks (also MWh).
ROSS: RAILWAY SIJBSTATIONS AND CATENARY SYSTEMS 667

7) No harmonic problems on power system have been system can tolerate the unbalance and that no power
encountered. There could be a problem where extensive system angle problem exists.
cable systems are served at the same point as railway load. 2) Voltage unbalance should not be allowed to exceed 5
8) Locomotives are not built to feed power back into percent. M\Iotor damage is not immediate and will not
the power system when coasting or slowing down (no be evident until motors in a given area begin to fail at, say,
back-feed). 20 years instead of 30.
9) Most railway supply points have a three-phase fault
of approximately 3000 MVA. SUBSTATIONS
10) Railway load has odd harmonic content which In Great Britain CEGB owns 132-kV bus, 132/25-kV
approximates 1/N relationship, (i.e., fundamental 100 A, transformer, and transformer 25-kV oil circuit breaker
third 33 A, fifth 20 A, etc.). This is based on several tests (OCB). In France Societe National des Chemins de Fer
that have been carried out. Frangais-French State Railways (SNCF) owns the entire
11) Railway load power factor is 0.88. station. Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate typical stations.
12) Railway loads are served at 132 kV except for a
few 66-kV buses in the London area which have a high High Side Switching
short-circuit MVA. There will be two 275/25-kV stations 1) Great Britain: Usually try to serve railway load from
if electrification is extended from Liverpool to Scotland. existing station bus. If not, manual switching is adequate
because railway is designed to operate with one station
France (EDF) out of service. Transformers have high side motor
1) Railway substations are operated in parallel with operated air break (MOAB) switch.
EDF whenever possible. 2) France: Same as Great Britain except transformers
2) While nearly all stations have voltage unbalance of have high side circuit breakers. Railway does not de-
less than 5 percent, this is not the maximum tolerable pend on power system to protect transformer. Catenary
limit. During outages of power system facilities or short system is designed to allow trains to operate with station
duration peak load periods, unbalances of as high as out of service.
10 percent may be accepted.
3) Do not specify phase to which railway will connect Transformers
when installing new substations. 1) Great Brttain: Most transformers are installed two
4) Where possibility of 25-kV catenary system flow- to a substation. Do not use Scott connected transformers,
through between substations exists because of trans- load tap-changing (LTC) transformers, or station 25-kV
mission system angle relationship, railway either changes regulators. Railway transformer is subjected to far more
phases or installs relaying to trip station if back-feed frequent short circuits than a power system transformer.
occurs. It is protected by 4-cycle circuit breakers. To quote one
5) Miany stations are supplied at 63 kV in some cases British engineer "the transformer must be mechanically
from buses having three-phase faults of less than 500 strong and able to stand endless short circuits of 10 to 15-
MVA. cycle duration. The only comparable duty I know of is
6) Do not believe that the brief periods of railway peakarc furnace supply." The transformers used have spe-
demand, which are of 5- to 10-min duration and occur cially braced windings. The railway frequently places up to
only a few times each day, will do damage to any equip- 50-percent overloads on the transformer but these are
ment of either EDF or other customers. This is partic- usually of short duration. Transformers have fixed taps
ularly true on lines where the service is mostly freight. 15 percent in 2.5-percent steps.
7) Tests show parallel operation usually reduces voltage 2) France: a) The two sizes in use today are 10 and 15
unbalance. MVA. b) Impedance is 8 or 9 percent. c) Overload ca-
8) There have been voltage dip problems where heavily pability is 50 percent for 15 min; 100 percent for 5 min.
loaded freight trains, which are taking full power on d) Fixed taps 4 5 percent in 2.5-percent steps. e) Use a
grades or while accelerating, cross the isolating section 25-kV voltage regulator where required. 4800 V (± 2400
between substations not in parallel. This is another V) in 16 steps of 300 V. Steps of greater than 300 V produce
reason the French favor parallel operation. surges which might damage the locomotives. f) The 15-
9) The railway favors parallel operation because it MVA transformer weighs about 25 tons and is designed
reduces catenary currents and voltage drops and permits to be moved by motor truck. Every station has two
stations to be spaced farther apart. transformers. g) The railway does not maintain spare
transformers. h) Because of the large number of faults,
Societyfor the Electrification of Railway at 50Hz "the transformers should be of robust design" to quote the
1) Substations generally should not be operated in Chief Engineer of substations of SNCF. Fault rate may
parallel on 25-kV side. Adjacent stations on a severe be as high as 1000 faults per year in a 10- to 15-km catenary
grade might be paralleled if analysis shows that the power section. The 25-kY breakers reclose automatically after
668 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY AND GENERAL APPLICATIONS, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1971

INCOMMING LINES OF
ELECTRICITY DE FRANCE
(66KV, 154KV OR 220KV)

INCOMMING LEGEND
HIGH VOLTAGE
LINES (D
( SECTIONALIZiNG SWITCH

Tc AIR BLAST CIRCUIT BREAKER (ABLE TO INTERRUPT

BOTH FAULT AND LOAD CURRENT)

INTERRUPTER (A MINIMUM OIL AUTOMATIC

SECTIONALIZING DEVICE ABLE TO INTERRUPT
LOAD CURRENT BUT NOT FAULT CURRENT)

t~~( 66-220KV LINE SWITCH

66-220KV SWITCH fOR AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER

E366-220KV AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER

HIGH VOLTAGE (66 TO 220KV)/25KV SINGLE PHASE

TRANSFORMER 10 OR 15 MVA NAMEPLATE RATING

INITERRUPTER BUILT INTO TRANSFER

25KV AIR CIRCUIT BREAKER

0g <-1 @ 25KV BUS TE INTERRUPTER AND 25KV BUSES

TRACK CIRCUIT INTERRUPTER

TRACK
-TRACK 2 STATION SERVICE TRANSFORMER

Fig. 1. Typical French Railways substation layout.

132 KV

132KV

MOTOR OPERATED
®AIR BRAKE

132/25 KV SWITCHES
TRANSFORMER fM0l
TRANSFORMER
m 25KV OIL

WI -CIRCUIT BREAKER
IF 25KV TIE TO
RAILWAY SUPPLY CENTRAL ELECTRICITY

POINT IS SHORT GENERATING BOARD OWNERSHIP

THIS OIL
CIRCUIT BREAKER b BRITISH RAILWAYS LINE
MAY BE
ELIMINATED
-TRACK
TRACK 2

Fig. 2. Typical British Railways substation switching diagram.

ROSS: RAILWAY SUBSTATIONS AND CATENARY SYSTEMS 669

15 s, and this clears approximately 98 percent of these Tensioning

faults. The tensiioning system uses weights with pulley arrange-
3) Germany: a) Use 10-MVA 100/15-kV 162/3-Hz ments giviing 3:1, 4:1, or 5:1 advantage. The counter-
transformers. b) Transformers are subjected to one weight weiv ;hts in France about 500 kg. Spacing of weights
short-circuit fault every five days. c) Transformer has is as followEs (depend to some extent on curvature):
gas pressure and winding temperature relays for pro-
tection. Great Brritain 1000-1500 yd
4) Sweden: a) Transformer must be strongly con- France 1000-12-00 m
structed to stand frequent faults. b) In exceptional cases Sweden 1200 m.
over 1000 faults per year have occurred on one section of The tensioni is 1600 lb in Sweden, 2000 lb in Great Britain,
catenary. A rough estimate is four to six faults per km and 2200 lb) in France and Germany. The 1000- to 1200-m
per year. c) Standard size is 10 MVA. d) Transformer is section is fi xed at the center and has weights at each end;
mounted on a railroad car. e) In a few cases they have put therefore, etach weight point acts on about 500 to 600 m of
reactors in series to limit short-circuit currents and catenary syTstem. For speeds of over 100 km/h, it is normal
mechanical stresses. practice in all countries to tension both the catenary wire
and the coratact wire.
Low Side Switching (15 or 25 kV)
1) Great Britain (25 kV): Use a double bus station SpanLengt 'h
arrangement with normally open bus tie breaker and The maxi:imum span length is limited by the permissible
circuit breaker on each catenary section. maximum ]lateral displacement by wind. The wind dis-
2) France: Use a single low side bus with low side placement must be such as to never permit the contact
breakers built into each transformer in newest stations. wire to comie off the pantograph shoe or pan. Mast spacings
All catenary sections are switched by minimum oil devices (straight tr,ack) are as follows:
called interrupters which can interrupt load current but Great Br itain 63-70 m; maximum: 240 ft
not fault current. After one open and reclose (15 s) the FGrance 63 m
breaker operates in 3 cycles, then 10 cycles later the Germany 80 m
interrupter on the faulted line opens, and the breaker Sweden 60 m.
recloses.
3) Germany: Similar to Great Britain. The GermEan mast is, because of the greater spacing,
4) Sweden: Use two circuit breakers on every catenary heavier andI their overall system is more expensive than the
section: one the main breaker and the second a test breaker others. Thee Deutsche Bundesbahn-German State Rail-
which has a series reactor to limit fault currents to 25 ways (DB) believes that, since a majority of maintenance
percent of normal values. The test breaker recloses up to expense anId faults occur at the masts, the additional
three times to permit small minimum OCB to isolate the expense is justified because of the 20- to 25-percent
particular catenary section having the fault. The main reduction ira the number of masts, insulators, etc.
line breaker then restores service. This entire sequence
of events takes approximately 1 min. Normal circuit Masts
breakers are used to protect the transformer and motor- The fo'oiwing types of masts are used (see Figs. 3 and 4).
generator set. (All countrries used steel masts with hot zinc bath or
galvanized coating for protection):
Grounding Great Bri
itain H-type girder
Use ground mat and rods. Ground mat must be well France H-type girder (French type "HE")
tied into tracks. Grounding is even more important in Germany lattice mast standard length (welded)
railroad work than in normal power system. Sweden prefabricated welded mast (not lattice).
The German mast is bolted to the foundation by
AC RAILWAY OVERHEAD CONTACT SYSTEM four bolts. The French, British, and Swedish masts are
All railway administrations used a weight tensioned concreted into the foundation. The Swedish mast consists
system. This was the one aspect on which there was of two channel beams with welded fillets. The masts are
complete agreement. All except the Germans believed mass produced to a standard design at a central location.
that speeds of up to 125 mi/h might be possible with After assembly they are dipped in a hot zinc bath.
modified simple catenary systems. There was great The Portuguese State Railways also use a galvanized
confidence that 100 mi/h could be obtained with simple steel mast similar to the British and French H-type
catenary, and in Great Britain this is already being done. girder. The Portuguese masts are predrilled for the support
All would use single mast rather than portal-type con- fittings which are bolted on at erection. This predrilling is
struction. to ensure rust-proofing of all mast fittings.
670 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY AND GENERAL APPLICATIONS, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1971

HARD DRAWN FLEXIBLE

COPPER STRANDED PIVOT
MESSENGER / STRANDED WIRE WI RE-- POINT-\
WIRE LEVEL 6-6
6-6 NORMAL
CONTACT ____t_
WIRE LEVEL -
ROD V-ROD
9 STAGGER ON
TANGFNT TRACK- COPPER CLAD
15 MAX. ON 16-0 STEEL TUBE
CURVED TRACK NORMAL
GALVANIZED (a) (b) (C)
-H TYPE GIRDER
RAIL LEVEL BITUMEN CAP
Fig. 5. Hangers used by westem European Railways. (a) Great
COATING
Britain, France (existing), Italy. (b) France (new), Great Britain
(considering), Netherlands. (c) Sweden, German, Austria-
RAIL BOND
TO EACH
CONCRETE
FOUNDATION
Switzerland.
STRUCTURE

Fig. 3. Typical British Railways mast installation.

(a) (b) (c)
Fig. 4. Typical mast base and foundation installations. (a) French-
British. (b) Swedish. (c) German.
The Swiss railways have used portal construction
for double track lines in most recent projects. This is
probably because of the desirability of standardizing the
design with the already existing electrification. On recent
single track electrifications, a galvanized steel beam
mast similar to the British-French H beam has been used.
The Austrian State Railway has used reinforced
concrete masts extensively on recent electrification proj-
ects. These concrete masts, which are a tapered square
cross-section design, are precast at a central location and
shipped to the erection site. All fittings are held in place by
galvanized steel clamps, thereby eliminating any require-
ment for external extensions of the basic mast reinforcing
steel. Other type masts have been considered including
spun concrete, spun steel, and wood. Wood is too expensive
to use as a mast except in Sweden. The Swedish railways Current Connection
tried wood during World War II but believe that the
warping, tendency to bend in the direction of the wind made between the contact wire and the messenger about
and erection problems make the steel mast preferred.
Maintenance
Annual maintenance costs are running about 3 to
4 percent of the cost of the catenary system. Contact
wear is about 1/2 mm2 per year in France and 40/1000 in
per million pantograph passes in Great Britain. All rail-
road administrations estimate a 40- to 50-year contact wire
life except at certain junctions or station approaches. In
France there are some very heavy traffic junctions and
station entrance tracks where contact wire replacement is
required every 10 to 12 years.
The manpower required for maintenance and the
overall cost is significantly influenced by the amount of
time that railway operation can be curtailed to permit
access to the catenary. In Great Britain most of the work
is done at night and on the weekend. Because of work time
limitations, manpower requirements in the maintenance
organization are about 0.1 man per km of catenary.
lVlaintenance equipment consists of small self-propelled
railroad cars or large motor trucks plus ladders for normal
work and wire trains for heavy work. The German Rail-
way uses rail cars almost entirely, while the French and
British use 4- to 6-ton motor trucks.
Every railroad administration operates one or two
inspection cars costing from 400 000 to 600 000 dollars
each. These cars, which are similar to a railroad passenger
car, mount special pantographs and equipment to deter-
mine places where catenary system is exceeding design
elevation variations during high-speed operation. After
points are determined, crews are sent to correct the
condition. All catenary is inspected by these cars about
once every two years and more frequently on certain
heavy traffic lines.
None of the European Railroad administrations main-
tain catenary "hot". French engineers stated that they
had seen Russians maintain 25-kV hot but believed that
hot maintenance offered little advantage because trains
cannot be run in the section in either situation unless some
type of off-track device were used.
A high conductivity flexible current connection is
every 600 to 700 ft. This is a 30- to 40-mm2 flexible copper
wire.
Hangers
1) The size is 4- to 5-mm diameter (0.2 in).
2) Fittings and hangers must avoid electrolytic effects
at joints.
3) The materials used are copper in Sweden, bronze in
France, Germany, and Switzerland, and cadmium
copper in Great Britain. Note: Life of hangers function
of corrosion and metal fatigue. Fitting and Hanger life
should match contact wire (50 years).
4) Three types of hangers are used as illustrated in Fig.
5. These types are indicated as a, b, and c. Type c has the
ROSS: RAILWAY SUBSTATIONS AND CATENARY SYSTEMS1 671

TABLE I Design Storm

CATENARY CONDUCTING SIZE
The catenary is designed to stand a side wind of 65 to 80
Country Messenger Contact Wire
mi/h or a force of about 1.20 kg/cm2. Ice loading is not
AstrIa
Austria i70 nu2 19 strand
copper coated steel lO0 mm2 Cadmium copper included in Great Britain, France, or Germany. Swedish
Czechoslovakia (50 HZ i 0 cm2 steel or
o5 mm2 copper coated steel l00 mm2 Copper design allows for 1.1 cm (0.4 in) of ice on catenary with
France (5C Ia 1 65 mm2 Tin Bronze (60%) 107 mom2 Copper design wind loading.
Germany 50 mm2 Bronze (63%) 100 mm2 Copper
Great Britain (50 HZ ) m7 mm2 Cadmium Copper Construction T'ime
107 mm2 Cadmium copper
Indian Railways-(50 Inz X 5 mm2 107 mm2 Cadmium copper
Portugal (50, H0z 55 m:' Bronze
"
107 mm2 Copper
The construction time for a major electrification project
Sweden 50 mm2 Copper l00 mm2 Copper
of several hundred miles was in every country from three to
Switzerland Normal 50 mm2 Copper Coated Stee-l
107 mm2
107 mn2 Copper
150 =m2 Copper
four years. About one year of this time represents pre-
Heavy m
USSR (50 4z 70 mm2 Copper Coated Steel 100 mm2 Copper
liminary engineering studies.
PRR (USA) 198 mm2 Copner weld 150-168 mm2 Bronze
Pantograph Design
The design and performance of the pantograph has a
very important influence on the catenary system per-
disadvantage in the opinion of French and British Engi- formance. The pantograph design directly effects the
neers of: 1) causing "hard spots" in the catenary,- 2) contact wire wear and dynamic performance of the
transmitting vertical forces in compression, and 3) catenary, two major factors in the maintenance costs.
possible failure because of wind load lateral forces with
ice on contact wire. TELECOMMUNICATION AND RADIO INTERFERENCE
Contact and Messenger Wire The problem of interference with telephone cables
paralleling the catenary system has been encountered to a
Contact and messenger wire sizes used, are indicated significant extent in Great Britain and Sweden. On the
is Table I. Tests carried out by the French as well as telephone system in a majority of cases only the long-
other railway administrations indicate that the maximum distance cables are involved as local service circuits
permissible current densities in contact (trolley) and are not of sufficient length to present induced voltage
messenger wires are 4.7 A/mm2 for copper and 2.2 A/mm2 problems in most cases. There are two alternatives
for steel. In practice 4 A/mm2 for copper and 2 A/mm2 for available: either the use of neutralizing transformers in
steel have been adopted as maximum continuous per- the telephone system or the use of booster transformers
missible loadings. An overload of 50 percent can be and ground current return conductors by the railroad.
allowed for a period of up to 3 min. In Great Britain, Sweden, and to a lesser extent in Germany
Fault condition tests indicate that the standard French the booster transformer system is employed.
Railways 107-mm2 contact wire will rupture by fusion in The system in use has a separate insulated return
0.25 s if subjected to a 6400-A fault and 0.50 s for a 3000-A conductor which is suspended from the catenary system
fault. Both of these times are well in excess of clearing masts. The 1:1 booster transformers induce a current in
times of the 3- to 4-cycle circuit breakers used for catenary this conductor equal to the catenary system current. The
system protection. insulated conductor is linked to the rails at frequent
intervals and as a result exerts a draining or "sucking"
Insulators effect on the ground return current. The booster trans-
The British, French, and German Railways use a former-return conductor system will give a reduction of
strut-type insulator. The Swedish Railways use a pin- some 20: 1 in ground return current. If left alone, some 50
type insulator but would change to a strut type if they percent of the traction current will return by other routes
were to carry out a large-scale future electrification. The than through the track.
great majority of the insulators used by all railway The booster transformers are placed roughly 2 to 3 km
administrations are porcelain. The Germans insulate to a (2 mi) apart and have a continuous rating of 300 A with a
higher level in high-contamination areas in parts of the 5-min rating of 600 A. The use of the booster transformer
Ruhr and elsewhere. The Germans also use silicon grease system increases catenary voltage drop, because each
coatings and spray cleaning in some areas. transformer represents additional impedance and is a
load of from 100 to 150 kVA. A booster transformer costs
Clearances about 5000 dollars.
The normal clearances used by the British Railways The extensive use of booster transformers with return
and Union International Chemin de Fer (UIC) for 25 kV conductors is limited to Great Britain, Norway, and
are 11 in static and 8 in passing, with a permissible mini- Sweden. In Norway and Sweden the poor earth con-
mum of 8 in static and 6 in passing allowed by British ductivity has been the major factor dictating the need for
Railways but not by UIC. booster transformers and return feeder installations.
672 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDIUSTRY AND GENERAL APPLICATIONS, SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1971
In Great Britain booster transformers were required for
the London-Liverpool-Manchester electrification but
have not been used on the more recent Manchester-
Stokes electrification. The use of booster transformers has
not been necessary with the French 50-Hz electrification.
The use of screening for critical cables or neutralizing
transformers on the telephone system is receiving increasing
recognition as the most economical solution for traction
telecommunication problems. This correction technique
has received general application in Austria, France,
Germany, and Switzerland.
Radio and television interference problems have not
been encountered. In Great Britain the average for the
past six years has been 68 complaints per year out of
75 000 per vear total, and all of these have been in areas
of very low signal strength.
COST BREAKDOWN AND CONSTRUCTION TIME
Estimated installed cost of European catenary facilities
on a single track mile basis ranged from 18 000 to 33 000
dollars (including correction in some cases for work
trains, contractor profit, and engineering charges) as
follows.
Railway Percent Using $18 000 as Base
A 100
B 113
C 125
D 156
E 183
In the area of percentage cost breakdown between
labor and material data obtained for three of the state
railways were as follows.
Blair A. Ross (M'57-SM'59), for a photograph and biography please see p. 665 of this issue.
Percentage
Range of Total
Item Cost
Engineering studies 3-6
Material 40-53
Erection, labor, and supervision 25-44
Stores-overhead-profit 21-32
The estimated construction time required for a major
electrification project of 200 to 400 track mi of catenary
system varied between 40 and 48 months. Of the estimated
time, in all cases approximately 12 months were for
necessary engineering studies after the decision was made to
electrify. In some cases these studies are made as part of
the electrification evaluation study with a corresponding
reduction of construction time.
Yard and terminal electrification costs per track mi are
the same as main-line costs with the savings in -catenary
complexity (in many cases a simple trolley can be used
because of low operating speeds) being balanced by the
increased number of switches and by the complex track
work.
CONCLUSION
Many of the British and Western European substation
and catenary system designs, operating experiences, and
construction methods are applicable to American rail-
road power supply. American railroads should use European
experience and technology as a foundation upon which to
develop the most economic overall system for future
electrification, This survey outlined details of Western
European and British railway electrification power
supply facilities and can therefore serve as an additional
reference for engineers concerned with railway electri-
fication.