Chapter 4 – Track Roadbed

Track Substructure - Subgrade

CENG 5271 - Railway Engineering

AAiT
 Roadbed sections
→ Roadbed (rail roadway) is the strip of land containing the track,
ditches, and other facilities needed for the operation of the
railroad.
→ Usually, the cross section perpendicular to the center line is called the roadbed
section.
→ Roadway width must be wide enough to accommodate the track side ditches
portion of embankment or cut slopes parallel service roads and other structures
and facilities necessary for the operation of the railway.

Note:
 Track centerlines
minimum 13’ apart
 Roadbed sloped to
drain
 Sometimes wider
shoulders for
maintenance purposes
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 Types of Roadway sections
According to the topography and the shape of the cross section,
about six roadbed sections can be identified.
(1) Embankment
The roadbed forms through filling of soil and roadbed
stone, while the design of which is above
ground
ground.

(2) Roadbed without filling or digging

The design of roadbed is the same as ground, and roadbed

it can directly be laid on the ground. ground

(3) Through cut

The roadbed forms through digging,
while the design of which is under
ground.

ground

roadbed
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 Roadbed sections cont ....
(6) Half through cut
(4) Half-embankment
In the mountain areas, some of
In the mountain areas, some of the
the roadbed is formed through
roadbed is formed through filling.
digging.
roadbed
ground
ground

roadbed

(5) Side-hill cut

The roadbed is formed through filling
and digging.

ground

roadbed

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 Subgrade
Definition :
 is the prepared earth on which the railroad ballast section and
track structure are built
 A sub grade is an earth structure, which is formed through
excavating or filling and can bear the track structure directly,
including section sub grade and sub grade of station and yard.
 Railway sub grade is the foundation of the track, it inherit and
pass on the weight of track and the moving load of train

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 Load vs. Deflection
Characteristics of subgrade Track Modulus vs. Subgrade
→ weakest and most unstable part in railway
line works.
→ instability makes impossible to maintain
track alignment, profile(surface) and cross
level.
For smoothness trackbed, following conditions
shall be satisfied during the design.
→ Control of sub grade deformation
Repeated Load Behavior
→ Evenness of sub grade rigidity
→ Stability under train operation;
→ Stability under natural conditions

The four basic geometric features are:

 Width of top of subgrade or bottom of cut
 Height of fill or depth of cut
Load pulse
 Side slopes of fill or cut
 Provision for drainage

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The main functions of the railroad subgrade are:
 To bear the traffic load without becoming damaged
 To drain off the water to the side.
 Provide smooth platform for construction

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 Form of roadbed

Factors affecting top width of

a) Top surface of roadbed
subgrade:
→ track level (speed, OCS, widening)
→ is where the track (superstructure) laid
→ soil property
on.
→ is refer to the distance from one side of
→ thickness of ballast bed (0.35~0.5m)
the road shoulder to another side. → shape of sleeper
→ The shape (with road camber: and → single line or double lines
without road camber: the roadbed → long-term tack type,
without road camber is higher; → sedimentation and widening of road
→ on curve section, the outside roadbed shoulders,
must be widen; → road maintenance type (mechanical
or manual),
→ setup of cable trench and pit etc.
road shoulder road shoulder
form without road camber top surface
width
side slope side slope

form with road camber zewdie

Width of Top Surface, B

1. Single track:
 without camber :
B = 2C + 2x + A
 with road camber:
B = 2C + 2m(h1+h2) + A

2. Double line (with camber)

B = 2C + 2x + A + D

Where,
B—width of top surface
C—width of roadbed’s shoulder
x—width of side slope
A—width of ballast bed
D- center to center distance b/n
tracks

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 b) Road shoulder and Side Slope
• Road shoulder: those part without ballast
bed;
side slope
• Side slope: the slope apart from road road
shoulder
shoulder.
Function of road shoulder：
→ Bear the force, strengthen the stability of
roadbed
→ keep ballast bed compacted
→ be convenient for the setting of signs drainage
ditch
→ for the walk of workers
Ancillary facilities
vegetation retaining wall
• Drainage facility

• Safeguards: function to ensure the strength

and stability of roadbed.

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General Subgrade design procedures:
→ Determine Allowable subgrade stress
→ Determine stress at sub ballast-subgrade
interface due to superstructure load
→ Compare load stress with allowable stress
→ Determine formation/natural ground
bearing capacity
→ Based on formation layer stress determine
the thickness/depth of subgrade

Where:
Pc = subgrade pressure (kPa for JNR and psi for Talbot)
Pm or Pa = applied stress on the ballast (same units as Pc)
h = ballast depth (cm for JNR and in. for Talbot)

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 Chinese Standard
Material type
Typical Thickness of subgrade bed
Designed Surface Layer of Bottom Layer of Sub
Speed Sub grade Bed (m) grade Bed
Designed Speed Surface Bottom Total (km/h) (m)
(km/h) Layer Layer Thickness
Thickness Thickness of V≤160 Group A filling Group A or Group B
(m) (m) Subgrade materials filling materials or
Bed improved soil
(m) V＝200 Graded crushed Group A or Group B
V≤160 0.6 1.9 2.5 stone or graded filling materials or
sand gravel improved soil
V＝200 0.6 1.9 2.5
200＜V ≤250 0.7 2.3 3 200＜V Graded crushed Group A or Group B
≤250 stone filling materials or
V≥300 0.4 2.3 2.7
improved soil
V≥300 with
ballast V≥300 Graded crushed Group A or Group B
V≥300 0.7 2.3 3 V≥300 with stone filling materials or
V≥300 without ballast improved soil
ballast V≥300 Graded crushed Group A or Group B
V≥300 stone filling materials or
without improved soil
ballast

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Generally subgrade design content:
a) Design of subgrade surface (shape,
width, formation level etc.)
Subgrade tests
b) Design of subgrade bed (thickness, - Strength tests
filling materials and compacting  CBR, MR
requirements)  Shear tests etc.
c) Design of embankment, cutting, cut- - Stability tests
fill adjustment  Shaking table tests
d) Design of transitional section - Property test
e) Ground treatment (mainly for the Physical
embankment base and the cutting  Classification
foundation base in special cases)  Gradation
f) Side slope supporting and retaining
 Atterberg tests
and protection (including embankment
 Permeability
and cutting)
g) Design of subgrade drainage system  Texture etc.
h) Design of land utilization Chemical

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 Subgrade Construction

Impact Roller to
Compact the Ground

Sheep's foot Roller to Compact Clay Soils

Smooth-wheeled Roller zewdie

using geofabrics to strengthen the soil

Soil Nailing

~ steel rods placed into holes

drilled into the walls and grouted
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 Typical or Potential Subgrade Problems

• Stability (strength and stiffness)

→ Massive shear failure, including slope
instability
→ Abrupt and Exceptional conditions
such as excessive rainfall
• Progressive shear failure
(subgrade squeezing)
→ Repeated wheel loads in combination
with water softens clay soils
→ High stress causes soil to move laterally
towards lower stressed soil between ties
and shoulder (“cess” heaves)
→ Leads to ballast and water pockets;
uneven support results
→ Weak underlying soil layers may also
fail in shear
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Factors Affecting Subgrade Performance
 Soil type
 Water
 Environmental factors (e.g. freeze-thaw, moisture)
 Repeated traffic loading (magnitude and reps)
 weight of trains
 Track superstructure

Heaves
Soft Track Condition
Ballast Pockets

Subgrade degradation
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 Settlement
• Progressive deformation from repeated loads (excessive plastic
deformation including compaction, consolidation and shear deformation)
• Subsidence of fills and deep layer consolidation
• Settlement at bridge approaches
• Shrinkage from moisture loss
 Weak ballast restraint
 Subgrade excessive swelling and shrinking
 Swelling and frost heaving
 Poor drainage
 Subgrade failure or deformation
 Subgrade attrition
 Longitudinal variation
 Transitions
 Unstable embankments
 Sinkholes

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 Water pockets
• Voids filled with water. Caused by:
• Poor compaction
• Soil arching
• Decayed vegetation
• Consolidation and progressive shear
• Leads to liquefaction (slurry) of subgrade material and subgrade attrition
(localized subgrade failure)
• Pumping ties may result (discussed further later in this topic)

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Other component deterioration
 Ballast fouling, due to subgrade attrition (localized subgrade failure)
 Abrasion of subgrade surface from ballast contact
 Hydraulic erosion (pumping) from deflections and water pockets
 Fouling
 Rail, fasteners, and special track work suffer from impact loads and high
deflections

Overall, subgrade problems are a major source for poor geometry (crosslevel,
profile, warp) which, in turn, are common causes of slow orders (refer back
to Topic 2 for examples of poor geometry).

Track deterioration:

It is well known that deterioration depends on the present quality level:

• Good track behaves well (deteriorates more slowly),
• Poor one deteriorates faster

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 Track quality is deteriorating due to traffic, showing various faults.

 This general observation means that a track behaves

according to its quality.
Mathematically it can be expressed as

Where:
Q - the actual track quality
Q0 - the initial quality
b - the deterioration rate
coefficient
t - the time

The development of the track quality

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Ground treatment

• When sub grade bed of soil cutting can not satisfy material and
strength requirements, replacement measures are usually adopted.
 Replacement of bed course
 Impact (vibration) rolling
 Heavy tamping and heavy tamping replacement
 Bagged sand well and plastic drainage board
 Crushed rock pile
 Sand compaction pile
 Lime-soil (cement-soil) compaction pile
 Pile trusted-expanded in column-hammer
 Cement-soil mixing pile
 Rotary jet grouting pile
 Reinforced concrete pile net (pile raft) structure
 Reinforced concrete pile board structure

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 3. Drainage of roadbed

The subgrade should be designed  Principal sources of water to be

with complete & expedite drainage considered:
system  Rainfall directly on the track
Effect of water structure
• Surface water: erode the roadbed  Surface water flowing toward and
which make the soil soft infiltrating the track structure
• Ground water: increase the humidity  Water flowing within the track
of roadbed and lowering the bearing
structure
force.
 Ground water

Techniques used to reduce infiltration:

 Sloping the upper surface of the sub grade and top formation
 Placement of clean ballast
 Construction of access drains below the bottom of the top
formation
 Shaping embankment shoulders so that water flows away from the
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 Surface drainage of roadbed

1) Arrangement of drainage ditch

 arrange it along the line;
 the size should be able to avoid water from overflow;
 when two different size ditches are connected, there should be transition
section;
 for those special soil area, the ditch should use measures which prevent
leaking and scouring.

2) Facilities
place: two sides of embankment;
function: drain off water around embankment;
drainage
section: the same as side ditch.
Embankment: ditch
used when the place cannot build a drainage ditch.

rectangular tank

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 Safeguards and strengthening of roadbed

Safeguards of roadbed
 Appropriate measures shall be selected for protection of side slopes
(cutting slopes and embankments) according to soil property,
lithology, hydrogeological condition, ratio and height of side slope,
requirements for environment protection and soil & water
conservation.
 In principle, measures shall be taken for protection of all slopes.

Safeguards of side slope

 Plants
grass—for small gradient (1:1.25) and low height side slope;
turf—for big gradient and high height side slope;
trees—for small gradient side slope.
 Civil engineering works
 Safeguards of eroding

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 Instability, sub grade work cases & Lessons

Instability
 Instability results when the shear strength of the soil is not
sufficient to support the loads applied to it
 The term landslide is used to define all types of mass
movement of soil or rock, where the mass moves down slope
under the influence of gravity only
 Instability that affects the track can be classified according to
the impact that it has on the track.

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1. A slide that encompasses a track and will
disrupt the track by cutting the 2. A landslide upslope where the toe
alignment. Once the track moves out of crosses the track, burying it in under slide
line, it is no longer serviceable. debris.

4. An event where a landslide threatens

the track, perhaps by encroaching on
3. The track being heaved up in response to the down slope shoulder.
upward movement of he toe of a landslide.

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5. Base failure in fills on soft foundations 6. How locations over old landslides
can cause the fill to spread and settle. may be reactivated due to a change in
While this may be mistaken as settlement, stresses within the landslide mass. Many
it is actually a shear movement involving of the ancient landslides are extremely
the foundation soils. It is common on large, and the limits of the landslides
organic terrain and other soft foundations. may be difficult to detect.

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In general, the stability of a Landslides occur either as a
slope is dependent upon: result of reduction in soil
 The shear strength of the soils. strength or an increase in the
 Pore water pressure within the loading on the slope.
soils that make up the slope
(this can be roughly measured Reductions in soil strength can
by knowing the water table). occur as the result of:
 The geometry of the slope,  An increase in pore water pressure,
particularly the slope angle  Reducing the available shear
and changes of slope. strength of the soil.
 In the case of moisture sensitive
 Any surcharge loading such as
soils, the amount of water needed
fill or bank widening material to cause this
stored on the slope or train
loads.

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 Sub grade Work Cases and Lessons
2 2
Lessons: Pay great
attention to stability
of works such as
construction roads
adjacent to railways
in soft soil area.

2
1 1

1 Lessons: Pay great attention to stability of

scope outside side slope designed for railway.
3 Lessons: Pay great attention
to spoils above road cutting
1 and drainage smooth.
3
3

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 Lessons: Pay great attention to stability of high fill in
sloping terrain (stratum) sections.

Lessons: Pay great attention to

exploration and rectification of karst
subgrade.

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 Subgrade Problem Solutions and/or Prevention
 Drainage, including limiting access to water
 Improve engineering properties through compaction and
possible preloading
 Selected fill
• New construction
• Undercut and backfill with ballast under existing
conditions
 Maintain stable subgrade geometry, through
• Strong material
• Properly shaped during construction
 Use of subballast and/or subgrade protection layer
• Properly graded protection layer is a good solution for
ballast fouling from subgrade and for shaping to shed water

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 Special Track sections -(Transition Secions)
• A track transition is a location where the track experiences a
significant change in vertical track stiffness. These areas,
especially bridge approaches, are often sources of significant
maintenance problems
• A recent report (2009)
stated that based on a
survey of several
North American
railroads nearly 50%
of bridges develop low
approaches
• $200M in maintenance
costs
Settlement at a Bridge Approach, Necessitating Track Surfacing

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• Traditionally, it was thought that the abrupt change in vertical
track stiffness (track modulus) leads to vertical accelerations in
car and corresponding wheel force changes (dynamic loads)
Vertical Path of Wheel Bottom

Dynamic Wheel
Force Distribution

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• However, research findings are changing the conventional
wisdom
• The change in stiffness, in itself, does not have a practical
effect on settlement or ride quality because dynamic loads of
a significant magnitude are not generated
• Bridge approach settlement often appeared no greater in the
transition zone than in track away from the zone
• Thus, while changes in stiffness may contribute to settlement
in the transition zone, other factors must be involved
So what is causing the problem?
• FRA initiated research is underway to determine this
• Limited cases studies have shed some light on the topic Rough
track geometry due to differential settlement
• Stiffness and damping disparity contribute
• Both combine to induce dynamic (impact) loads of 2 – 3 times the
static load
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• Substructure affects the settlement, stiffness, and damping at the
transition
• Subgrade settlement and lateral spreading, especially embankment fill, is
affected by the original construction, materials, drainage, and traffic levels

− Ballast settlement due to

inability to properly
compact and tamp
adjacent to the bridge,
plus ballast “memory”

− Ballast at transitions is
typically subject to
increased levels of
deterioration, flow,
fouling, frost, and poor
drainage
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Attempted solutions

 sometimes used in combination, to bridge approach problems

Convert bridge from non-ballasted deck to ballasted deck
 Replace standard concrete ties used on the bridge decks with
those with rubber pads, Ballast mats
 Wood ties on bridge decks in lieu of concrete ties
 Progressively longer ties on approach (generally not found to be
effective)
 Progressively shorter tie spacing (makes tamping difficult, thus
not practiced)
 HMA, Transition and cantilevered slabs
 Geowebs/Geocells, Chemical and/or cement grouting
 Deep soil stabilization techniques and Other cost effective
strategies (e.g. minipiles) are currently being researched. Goal is
to reduce induced impact loading.

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