Electromagnetic compatibility of electrified railways

There have been a number of developments which have had a major impact on the question of EMC and electrified railways, so that this has now become a vitally important area of railway system design. The first of these developments has been the introduction of AC traction drives which increases the possibility of interference with the traditional methods of train detection, and therefore places new responsibilities on the signalling engineer to demonstrate that the integrity of the signalling system has not been compromised under normal operating and fault conditions. Secondly there has been an explosive growth over the past decade in the amount of electrical equipment used by society for personnel, business, and entertainment purposes, and it is clearly essential for all this equipment to operate in harmony. This fact has been recognised by the European Union, and as a result the EMC Directive has been introduced which places responsibilities on the designers and users of electrical equipment as far as the electromagnetic emission and immunity characteristics of that equipment are concerned. These regulations apply to electrified railways, and therefore railway administrations throughout Europe must comply with them