third rail
Sign in to saveAlso known as contact rail, power supply rail, 3rd rail
type of electricity transmission of railways, particularly common in metro networks, one pole has a third rail, and the other pole is grounded and connected to the two primary rails
Wikidata facts
- Image
- MC BDeh 4-4 7 Finhaut 120512.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- short name
- 三轨
- Commons category
- Third rail
- OpenStreetMap tag
- electrified=contact_line
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~39 min read
Article
A British Rail Class 442 third-rail electric multiple unit in Battersea. The Class 442 holds the speed record for a third-rail EMU, being set at 109 mph (175 km/h). The contact shoe of a New York City Subway car making contact with the third rail. In the foreground is the third rail for the adjacent track.
A third rail, also known as a conductor rail, electric rail, live rail, or power rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost fully segregated from the outside environment. Third-rail systems are usually supplied with direct current.