Since railways were built problems have arisen rectifying slips of earthworks and the breakdown of track formations. This Paper reviews the impact of soil mechanics on the solution of these problems and on works practice. It is based primarily on work done on the Southern and Western Regions of British Railways and deals mainly with the behaviour of clays, silts, sands and gravels and chalk.
Methods are described for investigating slips and designing appropriate remedial works, while alternative theories used in the design of cutting slopes,retaining walls, etc., are discussed. Reference is made to the importance of drainage and the establishment of suitable vegetation on slopes. Since 1940, when the first attempt was made, on British Railways, to apply soil mechanics methods to investigate the breakdown of a clay track formation,much research effort has been directed by British Railways to this problem. The Paper reviews this research and its influence on remedial works to bad track formations and also the design of new roadbeds and drainage.
