CATENARY AND PANTOGRAPH DESIGN AND INTERFACE

The key function of a railway Overhead Contact Line (OCL) is to supply power to electric traction units. This transfer takes places at the moving interface between the OCL and pantograph and it is the primary function of the designers to ensure the fundamental compatibility of these two systems, and that optimum performance is achieved over a range of weather, speed and maintenance conditions. This paper describes the fundamental technical issues affecting this interface performance.