In-depth modernization

engineering works/projects

// 24 August 2016

Since 20 August 2016 modernization works on railway line nr. 10 are moving forward swiftly.

During the three-week closure and after 40 years of loyal services, maintenance and modernization works are put into place between Schieren and Colmar-Berg. On this particular segment, the replacement of the rails and sleepers is completed by the renewal of the entire substructure – in-depth works as you can see for yourself in the following pictures. #workingforyou

: Colmar-Berg train station shortly after sunrise

: Security first. In order to protect the workers, the catenary is grounded once the 25.000 Volt alternative current power supply has been cut

: In order to protect the track bed from precipitations, a performant drainage system is put into place. On the left of the picture: a drainage pipe

: Parts of the topsoil have already been treated with a cement-lime-mixture. Drying out the upper part of the topsoil, this treatment significantly heightens the soil’s load bearing capacity.

: The geotextile is distributed over the entire topsoil

: With millimeter-level accuracy : Thanks to state-of-the-art GPS systems (above the shovel two GPS-receivers have been installed), the sublayer and further elements of the track bed can be perfectly put into place

: Thanks to these GPS-senders the shovel “knowns” the exact amount of material to remove

: The densification of the soil using a cement-lime-mixture leads to an improvement of its load bearing capacity and prevents that larger amounts of topsoil with insufficient load bearing capacities have to be replaced. A time and money saver

: On the left : deep tire marks in the non-treated soil surface – On the right : Surface treated with cement-lime-mixture. Once rolled, this part of the platform will dispose of a multiple of its original load bearing capacity.