Ground wire with integrated optical fibres on a 40 year-old high-voltage overhead line provides new data transmission paths for the Austrian Federal Railways

In 1989, the Austrian Federal Railways (OBB) started to retrofit an existing 110 kV overhead line and to provide it with a ground wire with integrated optical fibers. However, part of the line sections are up to 40 years old, i.e. a number of specific design constraints had to be borne in mind when implementing the project. A ground wire with integrated optical fibers has been designed so as to be able to replace the existing conventional ground wire without requiring any major changes in pole statics. The authors describe the tests conducted on the fiber optical ground wire, the laying and installation method, and provides an outlook for the expected use of such a wire