Construction, Maintenance and Cost of Overhead Contact Systems

This paper is designed to give a general review of the problems involved in the maintenance and the cost of an overhead contact system of the catenary type, carrying high-voltage propulsion currents. The paper includes not only the contact system itself, but the transmission lines which form an integral part of the same. The subject treated is the catenary construction on the New York, Westchester & Boston Railway, which is purely an electrical line, having no steam whatever. Several points will be brought out, such as the method of maintenance, the organization of the maintenance forces, the efficiency of insulation and other points which may be used in comparison and in discussion.