The first successful operational and regular use of the 50 Hz system dates back

to 1931, tests having run since 1922. It was developed by Klmn Kand in Hungary, who
used 16 kV AC at 50 Hz, asynchronous traction, and an adjustable number of (mot
or) poles. The first electrified line for testing was Budapest Dunakeszi Alag. The f
irst fully electrified line was Budapest Gyor Hegyeshalom (part of the Budapest Vienna
line). Although Kand's solution showed a way for the future, railway operators o
utside of Hungary showed a lack of interest in the design.
The first railway to use this system was completed in 1951 by SNCF between Aix-l
es-Bains and La Roche-sur-Foron in southern France, initially at 20 kV but conve
rted to 25 kV in 1953. The 25 kV system was then adopted as standard in France,
but since substantial amounts of mileage south of Paris had already been electri
fied at 1,500 V DC, SNCF also continued some major new DC electrification projec
ts, until dual-voltage locomotives were developed in the 1960s.[1][2]
The main reason why electrification at this voltage had not been used before was
the lack of reliability of mercury-arc-type rectifiers that could fit on the tr
ain. This in turn related to the requirement to use DC series motors, which requ
ired the current to be converted from AC to DC and for that a rectifier is neede
d. Until the early 1950s, mercury-arc rectifiers were difficult to operate even
in ideal conditions and were therefore unsuitable for use in the railway industr
y.
It was possible to use AC motors (and some railways did, with varying success),
but they did not have an ideal characteristic for traction purposes. This was be
cause control of speed is difficult without varying the frequency and reliance o
n voltage to control speed gives a torque at any given speed that is not ideal.
This is why DC series motors were the best choice for traction purposes, as they
can be controlled by voltage, and have an almost ideal torque vs speed characte
ristic.
In the 1990s, high-speed trains began to use lighter, lower-maintenance three-ph
ase AC induction motors. The N700 Shinkansen uses a three-level converter to con
vert 25 kV single-phase AC to 1,520 V AC (via transformer) to 3,000 V DC (via ph
ase-controlled rectifier with thyristor) to a maximum 2,300 V three-phase AC (vi
a a variable voltage, variable frequency inverter using IGBTs with pulse-width m
odulation) to run the motors. The system works in reverse for regenerative braki
ng.