A method for locating a short circuit between a conductor and an electrically conductive screen surrounding said conductor of a high-voltage direct current transmission line comprising two or more cable segments connected in series during the operation of the high-voltage direct current transmission line, comprising: - Providing measuring devices (210a, 210j) at the ends of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of an electrical current flowing in a ground line (212a, 212f) connecting the electrically conductive screen and ground, at least one measuring device (210b, 210d, 210f, 210h) at a connection of segments of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of an electrical current flowing in a ground line (212b, 212c, 212d, 212e) connecting the electrically conductive screen and ground, and at least one measuring device (210c, 210e, 210g, 210i) at a connection of segments of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of a current flowing in an electrically conductive screen, wherein the measuring devices have timers synchronized with one another and are set up to detect the currents at a high sampling rate, - transmitting, cyclically for contiguous periods of time or continuously, pairs of current measurement values and associated values of the timer, which form a continuous measurement series from the measurement devices to an analysis unit, - supplying, from the analysis unit to a calculation unit, when a current course meeting certain specifications occurs over time, at least the associated value of the timer or the associated values of the timers as well as an indication of the location of the measurement for which the first effect of the short circuit occurred at the location of the measurement, wherein the analysis unit is set up to analyze the current course before and after the short circuit, in order to determine the point in time of the first occurrence of effects of the short circuit at the location of the measurement, - calculating, in the calculation unit, the location of a short circuit from the known distance between the measuring devices and a difference between the values of the synchronized timers, - outputting the calculated location. - Providing measuring devices (210a, 210j) at the ends of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of an electrical current flowing in a ground line (212a, 212f) connecting the electrically conductive screen and ground, at least one measuring device (210b, 210d, 210f, 210h) at a connection of segments of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of an electrical current flowing in a ground line (212b, 212c, 212d, 212e) connecting the electrically conductive screen and ground, and at least one measuring device (210c, 210e, 210g, 210i) at a connection of segments of the high-voltage direct current transmission line for the continuous detection of a current flowing in an electrically conductive screen, wherein the measuring devices have timers synchronized with one another and are set up to detect the currents at a high sampling rate, - transmitting, cyclically for contiguous periods of time or continuously, pairs of current measurement values and associated values of the timer, which form a continuous measurement series from the measurement devices to an analysis unit, - supplying, from the analysis unit to a calculation unit, when a current course meeting certain specifications occurs over time, at least the associated value of the timer or the associated values of the timers as well as an indication of the location of the measurement for which the first effect of the short circuit occurred at the location of the measurement, wherein the analysis unit is set up to analyze the current course before and after the short circuit, in order to determine the point in time of the first occurrence of effects of the short circuit at the location of the measurement, - calculating, in the calculation unit, the location of a short circuit from the known distance between the measuring devices and a difference between the values of the synchronized timers, - outputting the calculated location.