Kota, Rajasthan, India | Kota Division, West Central Railway
Keshorai Patan Railway Station, Gurla West Railway Station are the very nearby railway stations to Keshoraipatan. However, Kota Jn Railway Station is a major railway station 20 km (12 mi) near to Keshoraipatan.
Generally granular ballast system is used in rails track bed for its capacity of absorbing vibrations originated by train traffic, ease of maintenance works, high hydraulic conductivity of track structure and simplicity in design and construction. Main problem faced now a days is procuring granular material. It became difficult as scarcity of land and quarry products and State governments’ restrictive policies on mining and transportation ultimately lead to higher costs overrun due to delay in projects. Moreover, large scale mining & excavations cause loss of cultivable land and adversely affect the environment. To arrest these problems, alternative economical design by using geosynthetics may help in many ways.
The choice of ballast material and the construction and proper maintenance of a sub-ballast layer are two key factors regarding the sustainability of a railway project, increasing its durability and improving its performance.
To ensure that new rail projects are constructed with an adequate sub-ballast layer with separation and filtering properties. Client decided to use locally available sand in blanket layer with Geocell for confining sand, maintaining thickness of blanket layer as it is and a layer of woven geotextile for reinforcement and preventing intermixing of sand in the sub-grade layer thus provoking ballast contamination and demanding its replacement or the addition of large amounts of new aggregate.
Therefore, one way of achieving sustainability of railway projects is guaranteeing that tracks will have longer service lives, with less frequent maintenance cycles and by diminishing the need for addition of new ballast material which can be achieved by using geosynthetics in railway construction.
Project was completed within given timeline and Railway authority was really happy with quality of products. Now, it’s been more than year, client is really happy with performance of TECHCELL and TechGeo PP Woven Geotextile and also, look forward to using TFI products for their future projects.
The conventional granular ballast system faced challenges due to scarcity of quality aggregates and restrictive mining policies. Procuring and transporting granular material caused delays, cost overruns, and environmental concerns. Stabilization was needed to ensure durability and sustainability of the railway track bed.
While granular ballast absorbs vibrations and provides drainage, its reliance on large volumes of aggregates made it unsustainable. Quarry restrictions and environmental concerns made conventional methods impractical for long-term railway projects.
The client used TechCell Geocell with locally available sand in the blanket layer, combined with TechGeo PP Woven Geotextile.
