Deepgreen
Established Member
Yes, the SR system simply had wooden boards placed adjacent to the third rail rather than actually encapsulating it. I'm pretty sure I have already seen lengths of third rail covered in bright yellow plastic on the underside and part way up the sides at some locations, so I would suggest just an extension of that. I imagine recycled plastics these days are tough enough to withstand delivery and installation handling especially if the handling is modiified to use some form of padding. The melting point of plastics can surely be high enough to cope with normal third rail temperatures (otherwise icing would be no problem). Just a thought - obviously no system is perfect and risks would still remain but I would think that it would provide enough mitigation to allow a case to be made for strategic infilling. Let's also remember that OHLE is not completely safe, sadly, with graffiti and other incursions occurring. Of course, infilling would not only reduce diesel mileage but would allow many more rolling stock deployment options.That's because there wasn't the range of plastics available that would stand up to the conditions. Wood is cheap and durable. In truth, unless the design of the 3rd rail contact system designed out the risk, (the only real alternative is a bottom contact system as used on the DLR, there's no chance of making it safe enough for universal acceptance. The boarding around the NYC subway's 3rd rail only provides frost protection, and electrocution of individuals occurs there as in the UK.
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