The production of stray currents by DC Light Rail Systems leads to the corrosion of the
supporting and third party infrastructure in close proximity to the rail system. This paper focuses on the
impact of earthing topologies on the level of corrosion that will be observed on buried structures in the
proximity of a transit system. The work describes a modeling technique that can be applied to predict
the level of stray current (and hence corrosion damage) in a DC traction system where the soil
resistivity varies along the route of the transit system, vertically as well as horizontally. The modeling
technique used involves the accurate computation of the shunt and series parameters for use in a
resistive type model using a commercially available software package. The results demonstrate the
importance that soil resistivity has on the corrosion risk to traction system and third party infrastructure.
Such information could ultimately be used to vary the stray current control design across a transit
system to provide a match with the external environment and ensure a consistent corrosion lifetime for
structures across the whole route.