Stray current is a major concern for the track, utility and infrastructure owners in the vicinity of the direct current (dc) powered rail transit system. Stray current leakage and the corrosion caused by these currents is more of an issue in low resistivity soils and embedded tracks that require the rail to be continuously isolated.

The absence of specific national stray current control and/or mitigation standard in the U.S., necessitates the need to produce contemporary standards and guiding principles for the transit providers and corrosion consultants to match the advancements made in other sectors of the rail transit system. The author thus prepared a guidebook for the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP)(1) documenting best practices for those seeking guidance on design, maintenance, and testing of stray current control for dc powered rail transit systems. This guidebook includes the study of both national and international transit agencies.

This paper discusses “Lessons Learned” on the problems of surveying the transit industry, and how they were overcome. The paper also discusses results of a case study on issues related to stray current affects from one of the transit agencies that were used in preparing these consolidated guidelines and recommendations.

Subject
Rail, Test methods, Industries, Leaks, Consultants, Traction, Personnel, Corrosion data, Stray current, Case studies, Surveys, Maintenance, Stray current corrosion
Keywords:
SCC, corrosion, stray current, stray current corrosion, stray current control, dc powered rail transit, dc transit, rail transit agency, dc transit agencies, track-to-earth resistance
© 2019 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2019
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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