> I don't understand about trains but I imagine that doing maintenance in one electrified line would shut down or overload other parts of the network. The trac

> I don't understand about trains but I imagine that doing maintenance in one electrified line would shut down or overload other parts of the network. The track is divided into section, so you can turn off parts of it. It isn't one continous wire, there are unelectrified dividers. > Also, energy transported this way could be easily stolen, they just need to pull some wires and hide underground. The standard voltage used is 25000 volts. You can't 'just' use it, you need an entire electricity substation. > Also, to transport energy cheaply in long distances you need a very high voltage, that would electrify anything that gets closer to the track. That is why you see high voltage cables being only used in very high poles. About 3 metres clearance is needed to avoid arcing. Anything higher is mainly to stop something hitting it.