Overhead Line - Construction

Construction

To achieve good high-speed current collection, it is necessary to keep the contact wire geometry within defined limits. This is usually achieved by supporting the contact wire from above by a second wire known as the messenger wire (US & Canada) or catenary (UK). This wire approximates the natural path of a wire strung between two points, a catenary curve, thus the use of catenary to describe this wire or sometimes the whole system. This wire is attached to the contact wire at regular intervals by vertical wires known as droppers or drop wires. The messenger wire is supported regularly at structures, by a pulley, link, or clamp. The whole system is then subjected to a mechanical tension.

As the contact wire makes contact with the pantograph, the carbon insert on top of the pantograph is worn down. Going around a curve, the "straight" wire between supports will cause the contact wire to cross over the whole surface of the pantograph as the train travels around the curve, causing uniform wear and avoiding any notches. On straight track, the contact wire is zigzagged slightly to the left and right of centre at each successive support so that the pantograph wears evenly.

The zigzagging of the overhead line is not required for trams using trolley poles or for trolleybuses.

Depot areas tend to have only a single wire and are known as simple equipment. When overhead line systems were first conceived, good current collection was possible only at low speeds, using a single wire. To enable higher speeds, two additional types of equipment were developed:

• Stitched equipment uses an additional wire at each support structure, terminated on either side of the messenger wire.
• Compound equipment uses a second support wire, known as the auxiliary, between the messenger wire and the contact wire. Droppers support the auxiliary from the messenger wire, and additional droppers support the contact wire from the auxiliary. The auxiliary wire can be constructed of a more conductive but less wear-resistant metal, increasing the efficiency of power transmission.

Dropper wires traditionally only provide physical support of the contact wire, and do not join the catenary and contact wires electrically. Contemporary systems use current-carrying droppers, which eliminate the need for separate wires.

The present transmission system originated about 100 years ago. A simpler system was proposed in the 1970s by the Pirelli Construction Co consisting of a single wire embedded at each support for 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) of its length in a clipped extruded aluminum beam with the wire contact face exposed. With a somewhat higher tension than used before clipping the beam yielded a deflected profile for the wire which could be easily handled at 250 miles per hour (400 km/h) by a pneumatic servo pantograph with only 3 G accelerations.

For tramways there is often only a contact wire and no messenger wire.

Where there is limited clearance to accommodate wire suspensions systems such as in tunnels, the overhead wire may be replaced by rigid overhead rail. This was done when the overhead line was raised in the Simplon Tunnel to accommodate taller rail vehicles. A rigid overhead rail may also be used in places where tensioning the wires is impractical, for example on moveable bridges.