Abstract
Intensive development of railway infrastructure in Poland is associated with significant support provided for that purpose by the European Union, especially, by investments in the modernization of existing railway lines. Together with the improvement of the infrastructure in less developed countries, an interoperability of rail system at the international level is sought through the technical harmonization, mostly by the introduction of European regulations and technical standards. The paper presents the main requirements associated with the geotechnical aspects of design of railway embankments, mostly relating to their overall stability and maintenance of serviceability. Some aspects of the European standards as well as international, national, and internal regulations, are discusses in the context of challenges encountered by designers. The main geotechnical issues are associated with safety requirements, loading conditions, geometry of railway embankments, as well as the scope of geotechnical investigation necessary to make an informed decision on a final design solution.
Highlights
As the investments into the modernization and development of railway infrastructure in Poland increase, so does the need to rationally balance the reliability levels with the economy of the design
The second aspect of importance in design of railway embankments is the serviceability of a railway line, which is primarily associated with differential settlement along the line
Polish railway authorities [5] accept the methodology presented in the European standard PN-EN 15528 [15], where traffic load is based on the class assigned by PKP
Summary
As the investments into the modernization and development of railway infrastructure in Poland increase, so does the need to rationally balance the reliability levels with the economy of the design. Over the years, most of the maintenance effort has been put into the upkeep and renovation of existing track systems, to prolong the serviceability of the most important lines. When subjected to years of operation under dynamic loading and varying environmental conditions, such embankments are often hardly suitable for further use without additional measures, to increase their stability, or their demolition and reconstruction according to current standards. With the large funds provided by the European Union for the development of railway infrastructure, significant investments into renovation and upgrade of the lines gives an opportunity to make up for years of insufficient upkeep. The main factors guiding the occurrence of these limit states are: railway traffic load, geometry of an embankment, as well as geotechnical conditions (Fig. 1)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call