A Case Study of Railway Tracks’ Gradient Control Wire Corrosion Assessment (C2026-00312)
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
3:30 PM - 4:00 PM Central
Location: 361 AB
Earn .5 PDH
Interested in reading the entire paper? Click on the "Paper" button below to read on the AMPP Knowledge Hub!
*Please note, if your registration came with access to the conference proceedings don't forget to login to your AMPP Knowledge Hub account to access the paper for free. If you login and don't have access to the paper, you can purchase the individual paper or purchase the entire conference proceedings on your Knowledge Hub account.
This case study examines the root cause of corrosion on a buried copper gradient control wire (GCW) which was installed on signal circuits for commuter railroad tracks to mitigate AC interference from a nearby 345 KV overhead transmission powerline. Corrosion degradation of the GCW has been observed based on excavation and visual inspection along with a notable increase in GCW to earth resistance and reduced AC interference mitigation effectiveness. Several different methods have been incorporated to study the corrosion assessment on the GCW including remote monitoring units for recording AC/DC structure-to-soil potentials, performing close interval potential survey (CIPS), determining GCW electrical continuity and resistance to earth characteristics (if possible), soil resistivity measurements, calculating AC/DC current densities, and evaluating soil corrosivity. The field procedures, results of the root-cause analysis, and recommendations are presented.
