Improvement for a Soft Subgrade in a Railway Track

This is a brief description on how to improve a soft subgrade in a railway track.

This portion of the track is a cut through a small mountain with sharp soil embankments in both sides of the track .Existing soil is of a sandy clay type and there was no proper drainage system to drain out the water which gets accumulated owing to the soil embankments.The track has suffered rapid settlements and constant ballast creep.

                                   

The first step in improving this soft subgrade was to cut two deep drains on either side of the mountain embankments to drain out the accumulated water ,making the surface dry  for machine movements.

Step two was to provide a geo -grid to arrest the ballast creep along with a 200mm layer of Aggregate Base Course (ABC).

                                                                   
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random rubble masonry drains were provided instead of earthen drains in either side of the embankment.

Catch water drains were provided along the mountain ridge .