Does the subway run on electricity or oil? Why can't the subway operate 24 hours a day?

The subway is a high-tech transportation product that has brought a qualitative leap to our lives. In fact, if you study it carefully, you will find that it is really very interesting. Do you know whether the subway uses electricity or oil? Why can't the subway operate 24 hours a day? Is the subway manually driven or automatically driven? Let's talk about and learn about the relevant knowledge in this regard.

Contents of this article

1. Does the subway run on electricity or oil?

2. Why can't the subway operate 24 hours a day?

3. Is the subway manually driven or automatically driven?

Does the subway run on electricity or oil?

In my country, subways generally use 10-35 kV AC power. After transformation and rectification in the traction substation, the traction network supplies 750V or 1500V DC power to the vehicles. The "third rail" power supply, figuratively speaking, is to take power from the ground. This track is the contact rail, which is the third track besides the two tracks that carry subway trains. The "third rail" is dedicated to power supply. The vehicle contacts the contact rail through the collector to take power, and a protective cover is installed outside the contact rail to ensure safety. According to the position of the contact surface, it can be divided into upper current supply, lower current supply and side current supply contact rail. At present, the contact rail power supply mostly uses 750V voltage, and some use 1500V voltage.

Why can't the subway operate 24 hours a day?

Just like humans fall asleep and need to rest after a busy day, the subway also needs us to protect and maintain it at night after a day of operation. Although the subway looks the same on the surface after the operation, there are actually many staff members doing maintenance for it. Many staff members race against time to do a comprehensive inspection of the subway equipment. For each train, there are dozens of inspection and maintenance work every day. When our city is quiet and thousands of lights are on, many people fall into a deep sleep, and then the maintenance personnel begin their busy night shift. The commander commanded the train back to the depot and began to make comprehensive arrangements for the next night work. The vehicle staff began to open the depot door to let the train enter the depot area and check whether there are any problems with each wheel and connector; the track inspectors began to conduct in-depth inspections of the tracks step by step to provide safety guarantees for the next day's train travel; the signal communication personnel are responsible for checking whether the various systems of the subway are normal and whether they can work efficiently; the power supply personnel must ensure the normal supply of electricity so that the equipment can operate normally; and the professional technicians check whether there are any problems inside the equipment.

Is the subway manually driven or automatically driven?

During peak hours, subways generally adopt ATO operation, that is, automatic driving, except for abnormal circumstances, such as train delays, trackside equipment failures, and mainline operation chaos.

In ATO (automatic train operation) mode, the train runs automatically and does not require human intervention, but this mode still requires someone to be on duty. For example, at places like the terminal station where the train turns back, the driver is required to perform certain operations. In other modes, the driver is also responsible for opening and closing doors, adjusting the speed of the train, etc. However, since the train runs on tracks, it does not need to control the direction of the train, only the speed of the train.