Article

Examples of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields in a Finnish metro station

¹ Tampere University of Technology, ELT, 33101 Tampere, Finland.
² Helsinki City Transport, 00099, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Combinova AB, 197 40 Bro, Sweden.
⁴ Rejlers Oy, 45100 Kouvola, Finland.

^* leena.korpinen@tut.fi

Received: 3 August 2014
Accepted: 23 April 2015

Abstract

The aim of this pilot study was to present examples of extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields in a Finnish metro station. The metro trains are powered by 750 V DC voltage supplied through a conductor rail next to the running rails. We measured magnetic fields with a magnetic field meter MFM 3000 in 17 cases when a train was leaving the platform in the same metro station. The maximum measured magnetic field was 5400 nT (at 1 m height and 4.3 m from the conductor rail). The magnetic field stayed at this level for a very short time after the metro left the platform. It is possible that there are also DC magnetic fields near the metro as the train leaves the station because the trains are powered by DC voltage. Therefore, it is also important to measure DC fields and DC currents in the future.