Although wear of contact wire has been one of the most serious problems in catenary system maintenance, wear mechanism of contact wire is not yet clear due to its complexity. The authors identified quantitative effect of a contact force of pantographs and an arc due to contact loss on the contact wire wear from the measurement data on commercial lines. Using this model, the wear of contact wire in the Shinkansen commercial line can be predicted. The predicted contact wire wear by this model agrees well with the measurement data. The prediction model of the contact wire wear can be utilized for the efficient maintenance of the overhead catenary system.
