The Modernization of the Catenary
System of the Corridor IV
Bucharest Nord - Campina railway section belongs to the
pan-European Corridor IV, which crosses from west to the east the territory of Romania,
having the following route: Curtici - Arad - Sighisoara - Brasov - Bucharest - Constanta.
The Corridor IV, which configuration was established during the European Conference of the
Transports in Helsinki, in 1997, links Berlin and Nurnberg, in Germany, to the ports in
Constanta, in Romania, and Salonic, in Greece, in its route being included a few European
capitals: Prague, Budapest, Bucharest and Sofia.
The integration of the railway section Bucharest Nord - Campina in the Corridor IV makes
necessary the achievement of a few important rehabilitation works, in order to provide the
imposed conditions for respecting the current and future requirements of the European
traffic. One of these requirements is the increase of the traffic speed up to 160 km/h for
passengers' trains and up to 120 km/h for freight trains. Presently, the maximal traffic
speed for the passengers' trains is from 65 km/h up to 140 km/h and for the freight trains
from 65 km/h up to 95 km/h. The increase of the traffic speed imposes, among the others,
the achievement of some technical modifications and adjustments of the catenary level.
In this respect, on March 16, 2001, between CFR SA and SPIE ENERTRANS-ISAF Consortium has
been signed a contract for the rehabilitation of the catenary on Bucharest - Campina
section. This project has as objective the modification of the catenary system in order to
provide the trains circulation with a maximal speed of 160 km/h. The main aspect pursued
is represented by the improvement of the contact between the pantograph and the contact
line. In comparison with the existing catenary, installed in 1967, the designing of the
new catenary was modified as it follows:
1. the mechanical tension of the conductors - namely the wire of the carrying and contact
cable - has been increased up to 1200 daN;
2. contact line is achieved now of an arrow of 1/1000 at the middle of the opening;
3. the contact line is made of an alloy of cooper with silver, in order to increase the
mechanical features, by respecting, in the same time, the environment regulations and
standards;
4. sustaining reinforcement of the contact line on the consoles is made of aluminum. Due
to the fact that the reinforcement of aluminum is lighter than the one made of steel, the
number of heavy points of the geometry of the catenary is decreased significantly.
Electrical features of the new catenary have been improved especially through the
utilization of the discharging connectors between the carrying cable and contact line. The
new project also takes into consideration the requirements that have to be respected in
order to provide a better maintenance of the catenary. Thus, the metallic pillars of H
heat galvanized type are painted in three ledges with specific anti-corrosive protection.
And on the other hand, the isolator installed on the console and for the anchoring
conductor is made of composite material - it has to be noticed the fact that the
utilization of the composite isolators implies a smaller risk to be destroyed through
accidents or vandalism.
The improvement of the overall features of the contact line represents only a part of the
project. We will implement a new working technology through the achievement of the
rehabilitation program of Bucharest Nord - Campina section. The works of foundation,
assembling, disassembling and concrete sustainability of the pillars are performed with
the same purpose; the concrete supplied directly on the site, by a special train, and the
conductors are installed on the console by cable rolling with permanent tension. The usage
of this technology leads to the increase of the quality of the works: the geometry of the
contact line has no deviations and, consequently, the contact between the pantograph and
the catenary is improved.
The modernization works performed on Bucharest Nord - Campina railway section are included
in the first stage of the rehabilitation program of the pan - European transport corridors
on the Romanian territory.
From the progress and technical point of view the challenges are big enough, but also
accessible. During the 18 months, taking into consideration the winter period of time,
3,200 metallic pillars heat galvanized H type will be mounted along the track and 240 km
of contact line will be installed.
We are hoping, that in a near future we will accomplish the modernization of the catenary
on the entire network of pan-European corridors that cross Romania.
Orlando Craciun
