LS Cable & System made an announcement on Sept. 19 that it has developed a "rigid bar" for high-speed railways that supplies power in the form of an aluminum bar rather than a copper tramway. It is the second development in the world after Switzerland.
The rigid bar has the advantage of drastically reducing the size of the tunnel as it does not need facilities to support the tramway. When using rigid bar, the cost of tunnel construction for high-speed trains such as KTX and GTX can be reduced by more than 15 percent.
In addition, there are no accidents in which trains are suspended for a single line like the existing tram lines, and there is little need for maintenance.
The development of the rigid bar is the second in the world after the Swiss company, and the import replacement effect is also expected, the company explained.
LS Cable succeeded in localizing low-speed subway products in 2013, but Swiss products were used in the Pujeon-Masan double-track subway last year.
"Over the world, the market for rigid bar is also growing as railways become faster and longer-distance, and wide-area express trains like GTX are increasing," said Lee In-ho, chief technology officer at LS Cable.
Meanwhile, the development of the system, which has been under a state-run project by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport since 2014, was joined by the Korea Railroad Research Institute, the Korea Railroad Facilities Corporation and other companies specializing in railway equipment and materials, including Pyungil and D2 Engineering.