List of railway electrification systems

This a list of the voltages, etc. that are used or have been used for tramway and railway electrification systems.

Note the voltages are nominal, and vary up and down depending on load and distance from the substation.

Key to the tables below

• Volts: voltage

• Current:
  • DC = direct current
  • xx Hz = frequency in hertz (alternating current (AC))
    • AC supplies are single-phase, except where marked three-phase

• Conductors:
  • overhead lines or
  • Electrified "conductor" rails, usually a third rail to one side of the running rails
    • Conductor rails can be:
      • top contact - oldest - least safe - affected by ice, snow and leaves
      • side contact - newer - safer - much less affected by ice, snow and leaves
      • bottom contact - newer - safer - much less affected by ice, snow and leaves

Systems using Standard Voltages

There are a number of voltages that are used in many different countries, and these have been designated as international standards. These are defined by two standards; BS EN 50163 and IEC 60850

600 V, DC - Overhead Line Systems

This voltage is used by older tram systems worldwide.

Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
Australia		Melbourne
Canada		Toronto
Finland		Helsinki
Estonia		Tallinn
Japan	Most tram lines
	Chōshi Electric Railway	Chōshi, Chiba
	Eizan Electric Railway	Kyoto, Kyoto
	Enoshima Electric Railway	Kanagawa
	Iyotetsu Takahama Line	Matsuyama, Ehime
	Nagoya Municipal Subway Higashiyama Line and Meijō Line	Nagoya, Aichi
	Shizuoka Railway	Shizuoka, Shizuoka
	Tōkyū Setagaya Line	Tokyo
	Wakayama Electric Railroad	Wakayama
Slovakia	Trencianske Teplice		Narrow gauge line
United States		Boston, San Diego

600 V, DC - Conductor Rail Systems

All third rail unless stated otherwise.
Used by most older US subways.

Type	Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
	Canada	Toronto Subway and Rapid Transit	Toronto
	Japan	Tokyo Metro Ginza Line and Marunouchi Line	Tokyo
	Sweden	Stockholm Metro	Stockholm	Has 650 V.
	United Kingdom	Glasgow Subway	Glasgow
			London	Was used for trams in central London - third rail accessed via a slot between the tracks;
		Southern Railway		Some areas up to 1939.
	United States	New York City Subway	New York City
Top Contact		Chicago Transit Authority	Chicago	Elevated and subway lines
		Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority	Boston	Red Line and Orange Line subways, as well as part of the Blue Line subway
		PATH	New York City metro area
		Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority	Philadelphia	Market-Frankford subway/elevated and Broad Street subway

750 V, DC - Overhead Line Systems

This voltage is used for most modern tram systems.

Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
Argentina	Buenos Aires Tramway (Premetro)	Buenos Aires
Australia	Sydney Light Rail	Sydney
Austria	Local lines of Stern & Hafferl		Also listed as having 1500  and 600 V lines
Germany	Albtalbahn	Rhein-Haardtbahn	Railway of the Upper Rhine
Japan	Enshū Railway	Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
	Hakone Tozan Railway Line	Hakone, Kanagawa	The section between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra.
	Iyotetsu Yokogawara Line and Gunchū Line	Ehime
	Kintetsu Utsube Line, Hachiōji Line	Yokkaichi, Mie
	Sangi Railway Hokusei Line	Mie
Norway	Oslo T-bane	Oslo	Only the one line, Holmenkollbanen
Turkey	Eskişehir Tramway System
United Kingdom	Manchester Metrolink	Manchester
	Sheffield Supertram	Sheffield
	Midland Metro	Birmingham to Wolverhampton
United States	Minneapolis/Saint Paul	Minnesota Metropolitan Transit light rail
		Denver, Colorado	Light Rail part of the Denver Regional Transportation District [RTD]
	TRAX Light Rail	Salt Lake City UTA

750 V, DC - Conductor Rail Systems

All third rail unless stated otherwise.

Type	Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
	Austria	Vienna U-Bahn	Vienna
	Canada	Montreal Metro	Montreal	(Guide Bars)
	Czech Republic	Prague Metro	Prague
	Denmark	Copenhagen Metro	Copenhagen
Bottom Contact	Finland	Helsinki Metro	Helsinki
	France	Paris Métro	Paris	Some guide rail
	Germany	Berlin U-Bahn	Berlin
		Munich U-Bahn	Munich
		Nuremberg U-Bahn	Nuremberg
		Hamburg U-Bahn	Hamburg
	Hungary	Budapest Metro	Budapest
	India	Kolkata Metro	Kolkata (Calcutta)
	Japan	Most lines of Osaka Municipal Subway	Osaka, Osaka
		Sapporo Municipal Subway Namboku Line	Sapporo, Hokkaidō
		Yokohama Municipal Subway	Yokohama, Kanagawa
	Norway	Oslo T-bane	Oslo
	Portugal	Lisbon Metro	Lisbon
	Puerto Rico, USA	Tren Urbano	San Juan
	Romania	Bucharest Metro	Bucharest
	Russia			Undergrounds and metros.
	Singapore	Mass Rapid Transit	Singapore	On North South Line and East West Line operated by SMRT Corporation
	Taiwan	Rapid Transit	Taipei	Green, Orange, Red, Blue Lines
Bottom Contact	United Kingdom	Docklands Light Railway	London
Top Contact		Southern Region of British Railways and successors	Southern England	The 660 V system was upgraded and expanded, however not all of the system is covered.
		Merseyrail	Liverpool
		LNWR Suburban Network	London	Formerly 4 rail, out of Euston and Broad Street, curtailed, upgraded and standardised
		Northern City Line	London	Access to City (Moorgate)
	United States	Washington Metro	Washington, DC
		Long Island Rail Road	New York City
		Las Vegas Monorail	Las Vegas, Nevada

1500 V, DC, Overhead

Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
Argentina	Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires)	Buenos Aires	Lines C,D,E and H
Australia	CityRail	Sydney
	Melbourne Suburban Railways	Melbourne
Czech Republic			One local line only (Tabor-Bechyne)
Denmark	Copenhagen S-Train	Copenhagen
France	Société Nationale des Chemins de fer (SNCF)
Hong Kong SAR	Mass Transit Railway Corporation	Hong Kong
India	Mumbai Suburban Railway	Mumbai
Ireland	Dublin Area Rapid Transit	Dublin
Japan	Japan Railways (JR) lines		Most electrified lines in Kantō, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, and Shikoku.
	Most private railway lines
	Most subway lines
Netherlands	Nederlandse Spoorwegen - Dutch Railways (NS)		25 kV AC used on new High Speed Lines.
New Zealand	Wellington Suburban Rail	Wellington
	Otira Tunnel	Arthur's Pass, Southern Alps, South Island	De-electrified 1997
	Christchurch to Lyttelton	South Island	De-electrified 1970
Portugal	Cascais Line
Singapore	Mass Rapid Transit		On North East Line operated by SBS Transit
South Korea	Seoul Subway	Seoul National Capital Area	except Korail Line 1, Line 4, Bundang and Yongsan-Deokso Line.
	Incheon Subway	Incheon
	Daegu Subway	Daegu
	Busan Subway	Busan
	Daejeon Subway	Daejeon
	Gwangju Subway	Gwangju
Slovakia	High-Tatras electric railway
Spain	Catalan Railways
	RENFE
	Euskotren
	FEVE
Switzerland	Berner Oberland Bahn (BOB)	Interlaken
	Schynige Platte Railway (SPB)	Interlaken
	Wengernalpbahn (WAB))	Interlaken
Turkey	Bursa LRT	Bursa
UK	Tyne and Wear Metro	Newcastle
	Manchester-Sheffield-Wath	Manchester to Sheffield	Operated between 1949-1981. Suburban services in Manchester converted to 25 kV, 50 Hz a.c.
	Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway	Manchester	Opened in 1931. Converted to 25 kV, 50 Hz a.c. in 1971
	Great Eastern Main Line	London (Liverpool Street) to Shenfield (then Chelmsford)	Opened in 1949. Converted to 6.25 kV, 50 Hz a.c. in 1960
	Shildon to Newport	County Durham	Industrial line. Operated between 1915-1935.
United States	Metra Electric District Service	Chicago

3000 V, DC, Overhead

Country	Name of System	Location	Note
Belgium	Belgium National Railways (SNCB)		25 kV AC used on new High Speed Lines.
Brazil
Chile
Czech Republic	Czech Railways (ČD)
India		Kolkata	converted to 25 kV AC
Italy	RFI - Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (Italian Railways Network)		25 kV AC used on new High Speed Lines.
North Korea
Poland	Polish State Railways (PKP)
Slovakia	Slovak Republic Railways (ZSR)		northern, eastern lines, and the broad gauge line between Kosice and the UA border
Slovenia	Slovenian Railways (SZ)		25 kV AC also used
South Africa
former Soviet Union
Spain	Spanish National Railways (RENFE)		25 kV AC used on new High Speed Lines.

15000 V, 16⅔ Hz, Overhead

Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
Austria	ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen Austrian Federal Railways)		National Standard
Germany	German National Railways		National Standard
Norway	Jernbaneverket Norwegian State Railways
Sweden	SJ AB - Swedish State Railways
Switzerland	SBB-CFF-FFS - Swiss Federal Railways

25000 V, 50 Hz, Overhead

Country	Name of System	Location	Notes
Australia			Queensland and Western Australia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana			proposed line to Namibia
Belgium	Belgium National Railways (SNCB)	New High Speed Lines and the south of the country only	The rest of the network is 3kV DC
Bulgaria	Bulgarian State Railways BDZ
China
Congo
Croatia	Croatian Railways (HŽ)
Czech Republic			Southern lines only.
Denmark
Finland	Finnish Railways (VR)
France	French National Railways (SNCF)
Germany	Rübelandbahn	Harz	Operated between 1960-2005
Great Britain	Network Rail		except South and Mersyside
Greece
Hungary	Hungarian State Railways (MÁV)
India	Indian Railways (IR)
Iran
Israel	Israel Railways		Currently in the tender stage of the electrification project
Italy			New high-speed lines only.
Japan	JR Tōhoku, Jōetsu, and Nagano Shinkansen
Macedonia
Malaysia	KTM Komuter Service
Montenegro
New Zealand	North Island Main Trunk Railway		"Central North Island section" only (411 km section between Palmerston North and Hamilton)
Portugal	Portuguese Railways (CP)
Romania	Romanian Railways (CFR)
Serbia	Serbian Railways
Slovakia	Slovak Republic Railways (ŽSR)		South-Western lines only
Spain			New high-speed lines only.
South Africa	Transnet
former Soviet Union
Turkey
Zimbabwe	National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ)	Gweru-Harare

Conductor Rail Systems (Non-Standard Voltages)

Voltage	Current	Type	Contact System	Name of System	Location	Country	Notes
50	DC	See notes.		Volk's Electric Railway	Brighton	United Kingdom	Volk's Railway prior to 1884. (Current fed through running rails)
110	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Volk's Electric Railway	Brighton	United Kingdom	The world's oldest operational electric railway
160	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Volk's Electric Railway	Brighton	United Kingdom	Volk's Railway between 1884 and 1980's
180	DC	See notes.		Siemens streetcar	Berlin-Lichterfelde	Germany	Current fed through the running rails! Operated between 1881-1891.
440	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Post Office Railway	London	UK	Disused since 2003 [1]. 150 V is used in station areas to limit train speed.
550	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires)	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Only Line B
660	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Southern Railway & LSWR		UK	Original standard, mostly upgraded to 750 V
660	DC	third-rail with fourth rail bonded to running rail		Euston to Watford DC Line	London	UK	Compromise solution to enable London Underground trains to operate between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone). Similar bonding arrangements are used on the North London Line between Richmond and Gunnersbury and South West Trains Putney Bridge to Wimbledon.
700	DC	3rd Rail	Bottom Contact	Metro-North Railroad	New York	USA	Hudson & Harlem lines, southern part of New Haven line
800	DC	3rd Rail		Berlin S-Bahn	Berlin	Germany
825	AC	3rd Rail		Moscow Metro	Moscow	Russia
				Pyongyang Metro	Pyongyang	North Korea
850	DC	3rd Rail			Vienna	Austria
				Southern Railway		United Kingdom	Original route of Eurostar, pre-High Speed 1, upgraded from 750 V
1000	DC	3rd Rail		Bay Area Rapid Transit	San Francisco	USA
1200	DC	3rd Rail	Side Contact	Manchester-Bury	Manchester	UK	System abandonned in 1991
				Hamburg S-Bahn	Hamburg	Germany
1500	DC	3rd Rail	Top Contact	Guangzhou Metro (Line 3)	Guangzhou Metro	China

Overhead Line Systems (Non-Standard Voltages)

Voltage	Current	Name of System	Location	Country	Notes
250	DC	Chicago Tunnel Company	Chicago	USA	Operated between 1906-1959
500	DC	Many tram systems
525	DC	Bergbahn Lauterbrunnen-Mürren	Lauterbrunnen	Switzerland
550	DC	Snaefell Mountain Railway	Isle of Man	UK
900	DC	Gruyere - Fribourg - Morat	Fribourg	Switzerland
		Montreux-Oberland Bernois	Montreux	Switzerland
1000	DC	Sihltal Zürich Uetliberg (SZU)	Zürich	Switzerland
		Rhätische Bahn (RhB)	St Moritz - Tirano	Switzerland
1100	DC	Buenos Aires Metro (Subterráneos de Buenos Aires)	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Only Line A (will be converted to 1500V DC by 2008/09)
1200	DC	Barcelona Metro	Barcelona	Spain	Uses an overhead conductor rail/beam system.
		Sóller Railway	Palma - Sóller, Majorca	Spain	Website
		Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Cuba	Havana - Santiago	Cuba
			Lusatian	Germany	900 mm gauge mining railways in the brown coal district
				Estonia	(Elektriraudtee) 1924-1941 and 1946-1958
1350	DC	FART	Domodossola-Locarno	Italy - Switzerland
2400	DC		Lausitzer	Germany	Work line of the Lausitzer Brown Coal AG company.
		Chemin de fer de La Mure	Grenoble	France	-1200 V, +1200 V two wire system from 1903-1950. 2400 V since 1950 [2].
3500	DC	Bury - Holcombe Brook	Manchester	UK	Operated between 1913-1918.
6000	DC			Russia	Experiments in Russia in the late '70'es (3000 V lines)
6000	50 Hz			Germany	Factory railway of Rheinbraun AG
6250	50 Hz	Great Eastern suburban lines	London	United Kingdom	Great Eastern suburban lines from Liverpool Street London, 1950s to about 1980 (converted to 25 kV)
6500	25 Hz	Mariazellerbahn	Sankt Pölten	Austria
6600	25 Hz	Thamshavnbanen	Orkdal	Norway
10000	25 Hz	'Hofpleinlijn' Local railway	The Hague - Rotterdam	Netherlands	From 1908, in 1926 converted to 1500 DC. In 2006 replaced by a 750 V DC lightrail system
11000	16⅔ Hz	Rhaetian Railway (RhB)		Switzerland
		Matterhorn-Gotthard-Bahn (MGB)		Switzerland	Formerly the Furka-Oberalp-Bahn (FOB) and BVZ Zermatt-Bahn
11000	25 Hz	Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak	Washington, DC - New York City	United States
		Keystone Corridor, Amtrak	Harrisburg, PA to Philadelphia, PA	United States
		SEPTA		United States
		New Jersey Transit		United States	Not all lines are electrified
12500	60 Hz	Metro-North Railroad	New York City to New Haven	United States	Amtrak NEC trains also operate on these tracks
20000	50 Hz	Höllentalbahn	Feibourg	Germany	Operated between 1933-1960.
		Most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Hokkaidō and Tōhoku	JR East, JR Hokkaidō, and others.	Japan
20000	60 Hz	Most electrified JR/the third sector lines in Kyūshū	JR Kyūshū and others	Japan
25000	60 Hz	Northeast Corridor (NEC), Amtrak		United States	New Haven to Boston
		New Jersey Transit		United States	Newer Lines only; Not all lines are electrified
		Tōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen	JR Central, JR West	Japan
		Deux-Montagnes Line (AMT)	Montreal	Canada
		Korail		South Korea	All freight/passenger lines except Seoul subway Line 3
		A'REX	Incheon, Seoul	South Korea
50000	50 Hz	Spoornet	Sishen - Saldanha	South Africa	Iron ore line
50000	60 Hz	Black Mesa and Lake Powell	Arizona	USA	Coal line

Overhead Line Systems (Three-Phase voltages)

Voltage	Current	Contact System	Name of System	Location	Country	Notes
		Three Wire	Tagebau Gruhlwerk			Rack Railway (0.7 km). Operated between 1927-1949
725	50 Hz, Δ	Two Wire	Gornergratbahn	Zermatt	Switzerland	Website
750	40 Hz, 3Ø	Two Wire	Burgdorf-Thun Bahn	Burgdorf-Thun	Switzerland	Operated from 1899-1933. Converted to 15000 V, 16⅔ Hz in 1933.
800	60 Hz, 3Ø		Corcovado Rack Railway	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil
1125	50 Hz, 3Ø	Two Wire	Jungfraubahn	Interlaken	Switzerland	Website
3000	15 Hz, 3Ø		Valtellina Elec'n		N. Italy	1902-1917
3000	50 Hz, 3Ø		Chemin de Fer de la Rhune		France
3600	16⅔ Hz, 3Ø	Two Wire			Italy	Operated between 1912-1976 in Upper Italy (more info needed)
3600	16.7 Hz, 3Ø		FS	Bologna - Porretta - Firenze	Italy	1927-1935
5200	25 Hz, 3Ø			Almeria-Gergal	Spain	1911-1966?
10000	45 Hz, 3Ø	Two Wire	FS	Roma - Sulmona	Italy	1929 - 1944
	50 Hz, 3Ø	Three Wire		Berlin - Lichtenhain		Test Track (1.8 km). Variable voltage and frequency. Trial runs between 1898-1901
14000 (See notes)	38 Hz - 48 Hz (See notes)	Three Wire		Zossen - Marienfelde		Test Track (23.4 km). Trial runs between 1901-1904 Variable voltage between 10000 V and 14000 V and frequency between 38 Hz and 48 Hz.

Overhead lines and conductor rails of special or unusual type

DC, plough collection from conductors in conduit below track

• London County Council Tramways, later operated by London Transport

DC, no overhead wires, one ground-level conductor

• Wolverhampton Corporation Tramways, England. (stud contact) (1902-1921)

DC, no overhead wires, two ground-level conductors

• Bordeaux Tramway, France. (conductor rail)

DC, two overhead wires

• Greenwich, England. Previously used by trams when in the vicinity of Greenwich Observatory; separate from trolley-bus supply.
• Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Tram (streetcar) system used this arrangement throughout, probably due to legal constraints on ground return currents.

DC, power direct from rails

• Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway (1881-1893)
• Ungerer Tramway (1886-1895)
• transportable railways as ride for children

DC, two electric rails for current supply

Voltage	Current	Type	Contact System	Name of System	Location	Country	Notes
	DC			Paris Metro	Paris	France	Rubber Tyre lines only
750	DC	3rd and 4th Rail	Lateral (positive) and top (negative) contact	Milan Transportation System	Milan	Italy	Metro (only line 1)
630	DC	3rd and 4th Rail	Top Contact	London Underground	London	UK	Transport for London [3] Clive's Underground Line Guides [4]

See also

• 25 kV AC
• Traction current
• Streetcar
• Tram
• Light rail
• Ground level power supply

External links

• http://www.bahnstrom.de/bahnstromsysteme/weltweit_kopf.htm
• Map of European voltage-systems
• Southern Electric, England - details of electrification