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A less expensive switching station may have different electrification systems at both exits with no switchable wires. Instead the voltage on the wires changes across a small gap in them near the middle of the station. Electric locomotives coast into the station with their pantographs down and halt
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Because of the variety of railway electrification systems, which can vary even within a country, trains often have to pass from one system to another. One way to accomplish this is by changing locomotives at the switching stations. These stations have overhead wires that can be switched from one
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50 Hz AC). Locomotives and multiple units so equipped can, depending on line configuration and operation rules, pass from one electrification system to another without a stop, coasting for a short distance for the change over, past the dead section between the different voltages.
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motive power that can operate under several different voltages and current types. In Europe, two-, three and four-system locomotives for cross frontier freight traffic are becoming a common sight (1.5 kV DC, 3 kV DC, 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC, 25 kV,
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traction, particularly in respect of its quick acceleration (ideal for urban (metro) and suburban (commuter) services) and power (ideal for heavy freight trains through mountainous/hilly sections). A plethora of systems emerged in the first twenty years of the twentieth century.
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which can operate as an electric locomotive on electrified lines but have an on-board diesel engine for non-electrified sections or sidings have been used in several countries; examples are the
British
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under a wire of the wrong voltage. A diesel shunter can then return the locomotive to the right side of the station. Both approaches are inconvenient and time-consuming, taking about ten minutes.
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Railway electrification as a means of traction emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, although experiments in electric rail have been traced back to the mid-nineteenth century.
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A few battery electric railcars and locomotives were used in the twentieth century, but generally the use of battery power was not practical except in underground mining systems. See
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voltage to another and so the train arrives with one locomotive and then departs with another. The switching stations have very sophisticated components and they are very expensive.
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is 3,000 V DC overhead, while the rest of the route is 25 kV 50 Hz overhead. The need for these trains to use third rail into
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and produce variable traction output based on the frequency of the AC current. They are equipped in most modern
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Traxx MS (multi-system) for operation on both AC (15 and 25 kV) and DC (1·5 and 3 kV) networks
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Electrical traction offered several benefits over the then predominant
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as the motor and the rails as the current-carrying medium. The
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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16:Use of currents for propulsion of trains
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330:Another way is to use
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636:Stud contact system
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240:Alternating current
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294:December 2015
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32:This article
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691:Multi-system
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595:Contact shoe
590:Trolley pole
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503:. Retrieved
501:. 2008-01-07
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451:Maglev train
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359:High Speed 1
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332:multi-system
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280:Please help
275:verification
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41:Please help
36:verification
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830:Switzerland
820:Former USSR
793:New Zealand
626:Fourth rail
217:fourth rail
886:Categories
731:By country
621:Third rail
585:Pantograph
505:2011-01-01
462:References
430:Shinkansen
379:Thameslink
367:third rail
347:third rail
213:third rail
199:Unit types
126:locomotive
69:newspapers
783:Lithuania
738:Australia
666:Power car
394:last mile
375:Class 319
229:rectifier
803:timeline
788:Malaysia
483:J Halpin
440:See also
432:and the
390:Class 73
371:class 92
363:overhead
351:Brussels
339:Eurostar
244:inverter
173:Aberdeen
99:May 2007
840:Ukraine
758:Germany
748:Estonia
743:Austria
140:History
83:scholar
835:Turkey
825:Sweden
815:Russia
810:Poland
798:Norway
778:Latvia
753:France
223:or an
181:dynamo
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859:Lists
773:Japan
763:India
424:Many
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