RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION IN FRANCE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17989, 5 February 1924, Page 7

RAILWAY ELECTRIFICATION IN FRANCE.

In France a commission decided in 1920 on a standard system of electricity supply voltages and periodicities, which-was to bo accepted by all the French railway companies. The standard specifies a three-phase, 50-period, primary current for distribution, and 1500-volt direct-current traction, with either an overhead conductor or third rail. In exceptional coses 3000-volt direct current may be used with an overhead conductor. The total electrification work ■which is projected) by the Midi railway to be carried out during the next ten years, ; amounts to nearly 2000 miles. This, ambitious programme, which ia_ energetically being pushed on, will give 'the company one of the greatest, if not the greatest, electrified systems in the world. The lines of the Midi railway traverse the southern pari of France from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean. They connect Biarritz and Perpignan, and serve most of the valleys on "the north side of the Pyrenees. The lines also run north of Beziers across to Cevennes district, which is wild and mountainous, The major part of the whole area served by the company is of a -very hilly character, and as a resujt very sleep gradients are not uncommon, there being quite a number of over 1 in 33. -- These conditions make tho lines difficult apd expensive to work with steam, locomotives, and in view of tho fact that amplo water power is available in the area, it is a matter of no surprise that the question of, electrification has long been under ins." - -