An investigation of the suitability of the construction of an old railway embankment for a new freight route

摘要

In Europe there is increasing political, environmental and economic pressure for more freight to be carried by rail. Consequently, initiatives are underway to recommission redundant and under-utilised railway infrastructure. There are a number of technical and environmental issues which must be addressed in order to reuse such lines, including designing a suitable track substructure which can carry the proposed freight at design speeds and loads which far exceed those originally intended. To investigate the feasibility of utilising such infrastructure, research was conducted on a heritage line at East Leake, UK. The research consisted of measuring the performance of the existing track, field and laboratory trials to determine the engineering properties of embankment materials and the development of an analytical methodology to establish a suitable structural design for a conventional ballasted railway track. The preliminary analysis demonstrated that a thickness of 0·44 m of granular material placed on the embankment would be sufficient to prevent structural failure of the embankment for freight trains with a wheel load of 125 kN travelling at up to 125 km h~(-1) for a period of 60 years. The thickness of granular material is similar to that currently used on similar lines in the UK.