Understanding pantograph arcing in electrified railways - influence of various parameters

The most common and yet unavoidable EMC problems with electrified railways are due to pantograph arcing. This distorts the waveform of the supply voltage and current, can generates transients during the zero crossings of the current and can cause interference with the traction power and signalling system. Pantograph arcing is a complex phenomenon and depends on speed of the train, current, presence of inductance etc. In a sliding contact like pantograph and contact wire, the arc root moves across both electrodes because of the relative motion between them. In this paper, we will present an experimental analyses of the arc root movement and influence of different parameters on it using a laboratory setup.