Railways

Geoquest’s retaining wall solutions are recognized worldwide as the preferred economical solution to ordinary and extraordinary earth retention and load support requirements for railroads.

Our retaining walls, include Reinforced Earth® (MSE), T-Wall^®, and TechWall™. For constructing tunnels and large culverts, Terre Armée offers the TechSpan®, and TechBox™ solutions. All of these solutions are ideally suited to construct many types of railway structures supporting heavy freight rail, light passenger rail, and high-speed railways.

Geoquest applications include:

Grade separations,
Bridge abutments,
Slope stabilization,
Cut-and-cover tunnels,
Buried bridge structures,
Rockfall galleries.

Retaining walls

The inherent strength and flexibility of a Reinforced Earth® wall solution gives rail and transit stakeholders and their engineers and constructors powerful means for meeting structural, geotechnical and economical challenges with solutions for projects of all types, sizes and complexities. And by working with Geoquest, all stakeholders can reduce uncertainty and improve their bottom-line results.

Under restrictive circumstances the most effective alternatives to MSE walls include T-Wall® modular and TechWall™ counterfort precast retaining walls. These Geoquest solutions offer optimal solutions when designers are challenged with constraints related to highly restrictive rights-of-way, narrow in-fill clearances, obstructions behind the wall facing, etc.

When designers for railway widenings and twinnings encounter existing structures in close and encroaching proximity to new structures, then the shored retaining wall TerraLink™ solution is to be considered. TerraLink™ can be constructed in front of an existing structure or natural soil or rock, with narrow space between the two.

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Cut and cover railway tunnels

TechSpan® arches are frequently used for the construction of railway tunnels in built earth embankments or in cut-and-cover conditions. The TechSpan® solution involves a strong soil-structure interaction, associating three-hinge prefabricated concrete arches to a structural backfill. The main advantages of TechSpan® are the material and structural quality, the rapidness of installation and the adaptability to the specific clear opening size requirements of each project.

TechSpan® is especially efficient when building the structures over existing rail tracks below traffic when closure during installation is either not an option or must be minimized. Reinforced Earth® is a logical complementary technique for the construction of the spandrel walls and tunnel portal walls.

Geoquest also designs and supplies TechBox™ solutions. TechBox™ is a state-of-the-art articulated precast concrete “box” solution comprised of free standing walls and over bridging units that can be used for the construction of underpasses, overpasses, cut and cover tunnels and large culverts among other applications.

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Noise protection

The construction of railways close to residential areas can be a source of noise disturbance for the people living nearby. Geoquest designs and supplies solutions that have proven to be effective for noise protection. Our StresTec™ post-and-panel sound walls can be installed in areas of low height clearance and our FanWall™ free-standing sound barriers can be mounted without deep foundation elements.

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Benefits

Strength, resilience, durability

Strength, resilience, durability

Geoquest wall systems provide for significant load bearing, resistance to stray currents, resistance to vibrations, and resistance to deformation.

Reliability and reduced maintenance

Reliability and reduced maintenance

Standardized manufacturing for components ensures consistent and uniform quality and appearance. Our solutions have proven to be durable and to require limited maintenance.

Lower environmental impact

Lower environmental impact

Using relatively thin sections results in lesser consumption of concrete, steel, and land use, thus reducing carbon emission while minimizing environmental footprints.