Neutral Sections - Power Off

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Introduction About Neutral Sections (By: Gazz292)

A little bit of very basic info about these neutral sections in real life, this isn't implemented in SimRail yet, but some people like to drive as realistically as possible obeying all the lineside signs, and it certainly keeps you occupied looking out for these neutral section signs without RWag64's Neutral Section location info.

The railways overhead power lines in Poland are energised at around 3kV DC, thats 3 thousand volts, Direct Current (the voltage can vary from 2kV to 3.6kV and be within 'spec')

This 'low' DC voltage can not travel that far before the voltage drops too much, and the lower the voltage the higher the current that is drawn from the system, which could lead to overheating of the wires, transformers and rectifiers at the sub stations, and possibly the motors on the train.

So the overhead wires are broken up into many isolated sections fed from different power sources along the line, as the voltage can vary by upto 1.6kV on each section you need to be drawing as little power as you can as you cross a neutral section, to avoid the risk of tripping a substation out amongst other issues.

^{This is a very basic explanation, there's more to it but most people are not that interested... especially as in SimRail you can just ignore these neutral sections right now and not get a 'points penalty' or cause any issue to the system.}

So, to comply with the neutral section signs....

You do not need to turn the main power switch / breaker off for these sections, you just need to be drawing no motor power, so simply put the power lever / wheel to zero when you see a We8a sign that applies to your track ahead:

You can apply power again when the nose of your train passes the We9a sign:

If you are driving a (single) loco hauled train, you can re-apply power when the nose of your train passes the We9b sign, which is the above sign with an 'L' on the top of it:

If you are driving an EMU, you need to wait until the nose of your trains passes the We9a sign, which is the one without the L on top.

This is placed further ahead than the We9b sign because your pantograph is further back on an EMU than on a locomotive, so it may still be in the neutral section when your cab passes the We9b sign for locomotives.

A tip to get the motor power to zero by the time you see the We8a sign is to look for the back of the We9a sign, which is for trains running on your track in the opposite direction, and will be about 100 meters 'before' your We8a sign:

The neutral section signs will sometimes be located on posts to the side of the tracks, or on the catenary masts, and in some locations you need to look harder to figure out exactly when the signs apply to your line, and not the line next to you, which may have a staggered neutral section, especially at junctions where tracks join and leave the main line.

Whole List of Neutral Sections in SimRail (By: RWag64)

Katowice - Warszawa

Line	South - North	Mileage	PowerOff
	Katowice	318,4
L 1	Katowice Zawodzie	315,9	312
	Sosnowiec Glowny pzs R52	310,6	310
	Sosnowiec Glowny	309,5
	Bedzyn	305,5	301
	Dabrowa Gornicza	300,3
	Dabrowa Gornicza Zabkowice	292,9	293
	Dabrowa Gornicza Zabkowice DZA	291,2
	Lazy Lc	282,6
	Lazy	280,7	281
	Lazy La	276,8
274,3	Zawiercie	274,2	275
223,5
			220
L 4			211
	Gora Wlodowska	206,7	204
			196
			187
			177
			174
	Psary	170,5	166
	Knapowka	160,2	155
	Wloszczowa Polnoc	153,7	144
			136
			127
	Olszamowice	124,0	119
	Pilichowice	106,1	109
			99
	Opoczno Poludnie	93,0	90
	Idzikowice	80,5	76
			72
			69
			60
	Strzalki	57,3	51
			42
	Biala Rawska	39,7	33
			25
	Szeligi	23,5	17
	Korytow	14,4	9
0,0
31,4
	Grodzisk Mazowiecki	29,3	29
L 1			20
	Pruszkow	15,7	13
	Jozefinow	12,6
	Warszawa Wlochy	6,9
	Warszawa Zachodnia	2,7
0,0	Warszawa  Centralna	0,0
0,0
			3
L 2	Warszawa Wschodnia	4,3

Warszawa - Katowice

Line	North - South	Mileage	PowerOff
L 2	Warszawa Wschodnia	4,3	3
0,0
0,0	Warszawa  Centralna	0,4
	Warszawa Zachodnia	3,1
L 1	Warszawa Wlochy	6,9
	Jozefinow	11,8	13
	Pruszkow	15,0	23
30,6	Grodzisk Mazowiecki	29,3	29
0,0			9
	Korytow	14,6	17
L 4	Szeligi	23,5	25
			33
	Biala Rawska	40,1	42
			51
	Strzalki	57,4	60
			69
			72
			76
	Idzikowice	80,7	90
	Opoczno Poludnie	92,6	99
	Pilichowice	106,6	109
			119
	Olszamowice	124,8	127
			136
			144
	Wloszczowa Polnoc	153,7	155
	Knapowka	160,6	166
	Psary	170,5	174
			177
			187
			196
			204
	Gora Wlodowska	206,7	211
223,5			220
274,3	Zawiercie	274,3	275
	Lazy La	276,8
L 1	Lazy	280,7	281
	Lazy Lc	282,6
	Dabrowa Gornicza Zabkowice DZA	291,2
	Dabrowa Gornicza Zabkowice	292,9	293
	Dabrowa Gornicza Pogoria	295,4
	Dabrowa Gornicza Golonog	296,7
	Dabrowa Gornicza	300,3	301
	Bedzin Ksawera	302,1
	Bedzin Miasto	304,4
	Bedzyn	305,5
	Sosnowiec Glowny	309,5	310
	Sosnowiec Glowny pzs R52	310,6	312
	Katowice Szopienice Poludniowe	312,9
	Katowice Zawodzie	315,7
	Katowice	318,4

Sedziszow - Katowice

Line	East - West	Mileage	Power Off
	Sedziszow	251,2
L 8	Gniewiecin	254,3
	Klimontow	256,2	258
	Kozlow	262,1
268,0	Tunel	0,0	0
0,0
	Charsznica	7,8
L 62	Gajowka	12,5
	Gajowka APO	13,8	14
	Jezowka	17,3
	Wolbrom	22,3	27
	Zarzecze	28,0
	Zarzecze APO	29,1
	Chrzastowice Olkuskie	30,4
	Jaroszowiec Olkuski	35,7	40
	Olkusz	45,0
	Bukowno	53,5	53
	Bukowno Przymiarki	57,3
	Slawkow	61,2
	Dabrowa Gornicza Wschodnia	65,9	66
	Dorota	15,7
	Juliusz	20,0	24
	Sosnowiec Dandowka	24,7
83,5	Sosnowiec Poludniowy	82,7	1
0,0
310,8	Sosnowiec Gl R52	310,6	312
	Katowice Zawodzie	315,7
L 1	Katowice	318,4

Katowice - Sedziszow

Line	West - East	Mileage	Power Off
	Katowice	318,4
L 1	Katowice Zawodzie	315,7	312
	Sosnowiec Gl R52	310,6	1
310,6		310,6
1,0		1,0
0,0	Sosnowiec Poludniowy	82,7
83,5		81,8
	Sosnowiec Dandowka	78,9
L 62	Sosnowiec Porabka	75,7
	Sosnowiec kazimierz	73,6
	Sosnowiec Strzemieszyce	69,2	66
	Dabrowa Gornicza Wschodnia	65,9
	Slawkow	61,3
	Bukowno Przymiarki	57,3
	Bukowno	53,5	53
	Olkusz	45,0	40
	Jaroszowiec Olkuski	35,7
	Chrzastowice Olkuskie	30,4
	Zarzecze	28,0	27
	Wolbrom	22,3
	Jezowka	17,3	14
	Gajowka	12,5
	Charsznica	7,8
0	Tunel	0,0	0
268,5		267,5
	Kozlow	262,1	258
L 8	Klimontow	256,2
	Gniewiecin	254,3
	Sedziszow	251,2

Tunel - Psary

Line	South - North	Mileage	PowerOff
			269
L 8	Tunel	268,0
	Kostow	261,8
260,8			1
0,0			3
	Sprowa	18,0	22
L 64	Srarzyny	31,0	33
34,0
178,8
	Psary	170,5
L 4			174

Psary - Tunel

Line	North - South	Mileage	Power Off
L 4
			174
178,8	Psary	170,5
34,0
L 64			33
	Srarzyny	32,7	22
	Sprowa	17,7	3
0,0			1
260,8	Kostow	262,1
L 8
	Tunel	267,8	269

Notes on Exception (Lower Pantograph)

Dąbrowa Górnicza Strzemieszyce track 2 and Zawiercie track 3 those 2 have neutral section with pantograph lowering.

1. Dąbrowa Górnicza Strzemieszyce if you're a passenger service going to Czechostowa you've to pass it surely (after the platform)
2. Zawiercie track 3 is the one you need to get to go to Łazy Ła from Zawiercie WITH CARGO(line 160)

Source of this Article

https://forum.simrail.eu/topic/5519-neutral-sections-power-off/#comment-20654