Third-rail system

(Electric Railways) A system in which a third rail is used for carrying the current for operating the motors, the rail being insulated from the ground and the current being taken off by means of contact brushes or other devices.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by G. & C. Merriam Co.

References in periodicals archive

We also got Bournemouth which, perversely, stuck to a third-rail system. And, a long way behind, we got the Channel Tunnel rail link.

"Anything that rolls back the years when railways were starved of funds is good"

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