Return conductor and feeder optimization for reducing electric and magnetic fields of electric railways

The reduction of the low frequency electric and magnetic field of electric railways by optimization of the positions of return conductor(s) and feeder(s) is the focus of this paper. Possible optimization criteria are shown and further will be applied to the typical system configuration of a high performance Austrian railway track. The results of the optimization show, that there is a great potential of reducing the fields in certain areas. The issues of a practical implementation, the dependency on the horizontal position of the contact wire(s) as well as the constraints and possibilities of the optimization are discussed.