http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6699117^1702,00.html

ThinkGood,
It's not the way that I want to leave this Earth!.
Makes you think though, about your next pit-stop at the side of the road, at night, of course!.

Presumably there was some current flowing to ground on that "uncovered ground line." A tragic demonstration on voltage gradients.

Was this a single wire earth return system?
Don

Don, SWER is a seemingly bizarre practice by typical US standards, but has a decent track record for some. First saw it in southern Alberta in the late ‘70s. There, it was typically limited to a 15kVA transformer for rural farmhouses served at 14.4kV, with annual(?) ground-resistance checks. That corresponds to a transformer-primary/ground-electrode current of about 1 ampere, FWIW.
 
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[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 07-07-2003).]

Bjarney,
Over here, that current is a maximum of 8 Amperes, it's normally a lot lower than that though!.

Mike, at the time I spoke to an engineer at the utility in Calgary who explained that a government inspector required periodic {annual or ?} tests of ground resistance at the remote end. The utility would also run a span between the last two poles {at the remote 15kVA pot} and bond ground electrodes at both poles, for reliability’s sake.

Bjarney,
That sounds like a real good idea!.
The main down-fall of SWER systems, is what would happen if the Earthing is faulty.
It's best to have as lower Earth resistance as possible.

Bjarney,
ECP 31, over here calls the need for tests to be performed at 9 monthly intervals.
The test value shall be less than 2000 ohms(?!).
This value seems awfully high!!.