On-site Investigation of the Stray Current Condition in DC-Powered Subway System

지하철 직류 급전시스템의 표유전류 실태조사

The subway, a typical electrified transit, is operated by the 1500 V DC-powered system with the overhead positive feeder and the rails negative return. This return path would bring about considerable stray current circuits, that is, from the bottom of rails to sell and then to the station ground, unless the rail-to-soil resistance is sufficiently high. The stray current can cause electrolytic corrosion of subway metallic structures and adjacent underground utilities. In this paper, we reports on-site investigation of the stray current condition, especially influenced by drainage method. The drainage method including both forced drainage and polarized drainage, extensively adopted as a countermeasure for electrolytic corrosion of underground pipelines, was found out to exert a harmful influence upon rail components as well as the pipelines.