Inductive interference caused to telecommunication cables by nearby AC electric traction lines. Measurements and FEM calculations

The present work investigates the inductive interference caused by ac electric traction lines to nearby buried telecommunication cables. Measurements according to the directives of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and calculations using the Finite Element Method (FEM) are presented for a real system. This system consists of an ac electric traction line of the Greek Railways Organization and a buried cable of the Greek Telecommunications Organization. Finally, an analysis concerning the most important operational parameters in determining electric traction line influence is presented. Such parameters are the separation distance between the electric traction line and the buried telecommunication cable, the earth resistivity as well as the number and the material of the mitigation wires.