The Influence of Hydrogeological Factors on the Railway Stability in the Areas of Island Permafrost Distribution (by the Example of the Trans-Baikal Railway, Russia)

Abstract

Changes in the geocryological situation at the road base and in the adjacent territory should be predicted based on an analysis of regional features of the “climate – landscape – cryolithozone – construction” system. These relationships are manifested in various ways across various cryolithozone regions, with these differences being rather poorly understood. In this regard, in 2019, the Melnikov Permafrost Institute (Yakutsk, Russia) and the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed an agreement on joint research work in order to elucidate the evolution of frozen soils, as well as to justify the application of certain measures to stabilise the permafrost environment. These projects aim to study the cryolithozone response along the routes of projected high-speed highways and existing railway tracks. Since 2019, the Institutes’ representatives along with specialists from the Tynda permafrost station (the branch of Russian Railways), North-Eastern Federal University (Neryungri, Russia), Zabtransproekt (Chita, Russia) and the Institute of Natural Resources, Ecology and Cryology of the Siberian Branch of RAS (Chita, Russia) have been investigating individual sections of the Far Eastern and Trans-Baikal railways in Russia. Some areas here are characterised by the continuous distribution of permafrost soils, while others – by island permafrost distribution. These areas share such common features, as the significant lifetime of linear structures (lasting for several tens of years) and the presence of deformations of the railway track, which appeared in the first years after construction. Railway track sections installed in high-temperature frozen soils are of particular interest for monitoring. However, the construction deformations are not always caused by frozen soil degradation. This article presents the results of surveys at one of such objects – a section of the track confined to the Chernovskaya station of the Trans-Baikal railway.