blue sabre
Member
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2010
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- 205
Is it only in use in the UK by Tyne and Wear Metro, or do other light rail/tram systems use this?
Yet the Tyne and Wear Metro was electrified in the late 1970s.Its a hangover technology from the start of the 20th century...
Some other places had it like Manchester South Junction and Altrincham. Its a hangover technology from the start of the 20th century when electrification was more primitive.
Watcher,
You obviously never travelled on the MSJ&A 1500v dc sets. They had much better acceleration than the 25kv ac AM4s which replaced them. The journey time between Altrincham and Oxford Road was increased by 2 minutes (from 20 minutes to 22 minutes) when the AM4s came in. If you look at photographs the current Metrolink 750v dc catenary on the Altrincham line is almost identical to the MSJ&A 1500v dc catenary.
SP18 - Altrincham OHLE Replacement
The Altrincham OLE (between Cornbrook junction and Altrincham) was originally electrified by British Rail in the 1930's as a 1500V DC system. It was converted to 25kV AC operation in the early 1970's (BR Mk3a fixed termination equipment) and subsequently to 750V dc operation in 1990 for the Metrolink conversion, making maximum use of the existing 25kV OLE including the structures.
A condition survey, undertaken in June 2006, identified damaged, worn and life expired equipment. Following the condition survey a report was issued detailing recommendations for the repair, adjustment and renewal of equipment to improve and enhance the future operating reliability of the system.
VolkerRail Power are managing the design, installation and commissioning of 7kms of OLE wire runs and the installation of multiple OLE masts and gantries. This particular project will be uniquely challenging as there will be an interface between Metrolink and Network Rail infrastructure. The majority of the OLE renewals will take place shortly during a 30 day blockade in August 2009, with preliminary civil and preparatory works already undertaken during "Rules of The Route" weekend possessions during June and July. The contract value is circa £3.5m.
The lines out of London Liverpool st station were originally electrified at 1500V. This was converted in the early 60s to 6.25KV AC then to 25KV.
With the trend towards ever increasing voltages for power electronics - 15kV IGBTs are now mooted it might even be possible to build a high voltage DC electrification standard.
ACs benefits start to look rather small when the alternative is 6-7kV DC or such.