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© KYODOKeisei Electric resumes train services halted by fires caused by typhoon-borne salt
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© KYODO
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Yubaru
Easy to blame something when you really don't know the answer. I have never heard of fires starting down here on electrical wires because of this reason, and we live on an island, and get far more typhoons than mainland, and salt build up is common.
maybeperhapsyes
Better keep this reason quiet before the UK train services start using this as an excuse too.
Oh my Buddha
Gotta coat those insulators with a layer that resist salt build up.
Or pressure wash all the insulators after a direct hit of a huge typhoon.
rainyday
The wires that power trains are different from regular power lines since they can’t be insulated from the elements (they have to make contact with the train’s pantograph to transmit the electricity). So I assume that would make them more vulnerable to this.
Tokyo-Engr
Salt becomes conductive when mixing with water. Since salt is made up of Na+ and Cl- ions, when mixed with water the water is the dispersion media for ions and electrons to move which allows conductance. As Rainyday said the conductors used to power trains are non insulated. The non-insulated conductor starts to track across the insulator (someones you can hear the corona or popping before a fault) and eventually will conduct enough electricity to operate the earth fault protective device and removing power.
There are insulators that are coated to resist this type of build up but they are not 100% effective. The railways do perform preventive maintenance and wash insulators but there are so darn many of them that immediately after this type of event it would be really hard to get out and wash them all down.