Enhancing Stiffness Behavior of Railway Embankment for High-Speed Tracks with Geogrids

The railway embankments are always subjected to cyclic loads which lead to track deterioration. The rehabilitation and maintenance of the tracks require the materials to be economical and readily available on or near the site. The use of polymer materials such as geogrids is widely accepted in highway designs and is increasingly becoming common in railways. The current study focuses on improving the substructure by considering the role stiffness play in making the embankment fit for high-speed trains up to a speed of 300 kmph using European guidelines as a reference. A plate load test (DIN 18134) for railway embankments is used to conduct experiments by placing geogrids at the ballast and subgrade interfaces, where the modulus of the embankment is evaluated. The results confirm the improved behavior of the embankment with over 15% enhancement in stiffness of the embankment and provide simplistic method to design and even rehabilitate the embankment based on modulus values.