More than 2.5 crore passengers travel by railways every day in the country. The train runs on petrol diesel and CNG. A train requires 25 thousand volts of electricity to run. Now such questions arise in the minds of many people.
Why is there no current in the tracks even though there is 25 thousand volts of electricity while the train as well as the tracks are made of iron. Despite this there is no shock of current on touching the track. So lets know about it in detail.
This is why the current does not spread in the track
The flow of electricity in the tracks laid by Indian Railways is negligible. According to Animesh Kumar Sinha Chief Mechanical Engineer Indian Railways on Quora there is no power flow in the entire stretch of railway track on any route.
He said that the current flows only in about 20 per cent of the line. This flow usually takes place in the signals and also in the tracks around the railway stations and its voltage is very low. Therefore the shock of current is not felt even when touching the track.
Electricity always chooses the shortest path to flow.
Indian Railways also install earthing equipment at places while laying the tracks which disconnects the power reaching the tracks. Therefore there is no stoppage of electricity in the railway track and it does not cause any harm to anyone.
Actually there is a science behind it. Electricity always chooses the shortest path for its flow. In such a situation the power is always grounded through earthing devices installed at short distances along the tracks
