Editing Overhead line (section)

{{Short description|Cable that provides power to electric railways, trams, and trolleybuses}}
{{About|the transmission of electrical power to road and rail vehicles|transmission of bulk electrical power to general consumers|Electric power transmission|powerlines mounted on pylons|Overhead power line|lines carrying information|Overhead cable}}
[[File:Electricity (12308463104).jpg|thumb|Overhead lines]]
An '''overhead line''' or '''overhead wire''' is an [[electrical cable]] that is used to transmit [[electrical energy]] to [[electric locomotive]]s, [[Electric multiple unit|electric multiple units]], [[trolleybus]]es or [[tram]]s. The generic term used by the [[International Union of Railways]] for the technology is ''overhead line''.<ref>UIC English/French/German Thesaurus.</ref> It is known variously as '''overhead catenary''', '''overhead contact line''' ('''OCL'''), '''overhead contact system''' ('''OCS'''), '''overhead equipment''' ('''OHE'''), '''overhead line equipment''' ('''OLE''' or '''OHLE'''), '''overhead lines''' ('''OHL'''), '''overhead wiring''' ('''OHW'''), '''traction wire''', and '''trolley wire'''.

An overhead line consists of one or more [[wire]]s (or [[Overhead conductor rail|rails]], particularly in tunnels) situated over [[rail tracks]], raised to a high electrical potential by connection to feeder stations at regularly spaced intervals along the track. The feeder stations are usually fed from a [[High voltage|high-voltage]] [[Electricity distribution|electrical grid]].