A system for clearing power transmission line faults includes a sensor network configured to communicate with a transmission line and configured to detect one or more faults on the transmission line, a crowbar configured to coordinately switch first and second ends of a section of the transmission line to respective termination points, wherein the crowbar includes first and second grounding switches disposed respectively at about the first and second ends of the section of the transmission line, and a controller configured to receive information from the sensor network and configured to control the switching of the crowbar in response to the information.