Development of Low-cost Contact Wire for High-speed Lines

Chromium-zirconium precipitation-hardened copper alloy (PHC) contact wire was developed for high speed lines to address issues relating to cost and the environment. However, the problem with PHC contact wire is that is not easily produced in small quantities, to meet the demand for small lots from railway operators. Therefore, the authors of this paper developed a new contact wire, Cobalt-phosphorus precipitation-hardened copper alloy (CPS) contact wire which can be produced in smaller quantities. The resulting low-cost CPS contact wire has the same strength and electric conductivity as PHC contact wire. This paper describes results from performance tests conducted with the CPS contact wire.