Geosynthetics and North American railroads: Fid-Bau Portal

Geosynthetics and North American railroads

Fluet, Joseph E. Jr.

AbstractGeosynthetics are now being commonly used by nearly all railroads throughout North America. Geotextiles in particular are used extensively as filters, separators, and for transmission of water via lateral drainage within the thickness of the geotextile. This paper describes some of the special engineering considerations which are addressed by the use of geosynthetics, with special emphasis on those factors which appear to differentiate North American railroads from European railroads. Examples of these issues are: lack of dedicated track; marginal subgrades; stiffer track components; heavier loads; different ballast; and track rehabilitation procedures.The paper then relates geosynthetic functions in railroad applications to relevant geosynthetic properties. The reinforcement function of geosynthetics is then discussed in more detail and related to the introduction of new materials whose tensile properties are much improved over earlier products. The advantages of using such new materials as one phase of composite geosynthetics are then presented.The final portion of the paper offers a few comments on the new proposed American Railway Engineers Association (AREA) standard specification. The applicability of the proposed specification is discussed, and it is described as potentially an integral portion of a true generic specification as opposed to product specifications which now predominate.