Grounding Railroad Tracks I s o l a t i o n Transferred Potential ABSTRACT A r a i l r o a d spur i s often routed i n t o a large substation or generating plant t o f a c i l i t a t e i n s t a l l a t i o n of large power transformers or other large pieces of equipment and t o transport f u e l t o the plant. Because the metal r a i l s may transfer hazardous potentials i n t o or out of the switchyard area during ground faults, precautions must be taken t o l i m i t the hazardous voltages. This analysis looks f o r c0rmK)n trends of voltages along r a i lroad tracks i n a controlled model of a substation grounding system during a ground fault. Current practices t o l i m i t these transferred potentials are based on crude approximations and engineering judgement. Recently developed cornputer programs allow a much better model o f the grounding system, track and the hazardous scenarios t o which a person might be subject. Several cases were used t o i 1 lustrate some of the most c m n techniques used t o l i m i t hazardous voltages, and s e of these techniques were found t o be q u i t eineffective. Except f o r the cases where the tracks near the substation were removed, the potential transferred along the tracks produced several scenarios with touch and/or step voltages exceeding the tolerable limits.
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