Gallery
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Descriptions
Third rail layout:
1: coverboard 2: power rail 3: insulator 4: sleeper 5: rail
Third rail (top) at Bloor-Yonge station (Line 1) on the Toronto subway. Energized at 600 volts
DC, the third rail provides electrical power to the power-train, and ancillaries of the subway cars.
Paris Métro. The guiding rails of the rubber-tyred lines also function as current conductors. The
horizontal contact shoe is between the pair of rubber wheels.
London Stansted Airport people mover with central rail power feed
London Stansted Airport people mover, showing rail switch
Advantages and disadvantages
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Safety
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Entry ramp for side-contact third rail.
Because third-rail systems, which are located close to the ground, present electric shock hazards,
high voltages (above 1500 V) are not considered safe. A very high current must therefore be used
to transfer adequate power to the train, resulting in high resistive losses, and requiring relatively
closely spaced feed points (electrical substations).
The electrified rail threatens electrocution of anyone wandering or falling onto the tracks. This
can be avoided by using platform screen doors, or the risk can be reduced by placing the
conductor rail on the side of the track away from the platform, when allowed by the station
layout. The risk can also be reduced by having a coverboard, supported by brackets, to protect
the third rail from contact, although many systems do not use one. Where coverboards are used,
they reduce the structure gauge near the top of rail. This in turn reduces the loading gauge.
There is also a risk of pedestrians walking onto the tracks at level crossings and accidentally
touching the third rail, unless grade separation is fully implemented. In the United States, a
1992 Supreme Court of Illinois decision affirmed a $1.5 million verdict against the Chicago
Transit Authority for failing to stop an intoxicated person from walking onto the tracks at a level
crossing at the Kedzie station in an apparent attempt to urinate.[4]
