ABOUT
The project consisted in the renovation of a 28 km railway stretch between El Gourzy and Biskra, at the south of Constantine, Algeria. This Algerian railway dates from the second half of the 19th century. Currently, the total length of the rail network is 4.440 km, of which 3.854 km are in operation, 449 km of double track and 323 km are electrified.
The scope of the rail track intervention included changing the actual rail support and, in some points, the railway profile, to improve the speed or rectify some railway problems. It was also considered that, as much as possible, the actual railway platform should be maintained.
The design presented solutions to some usual problems in railway rehabilitation and renovation such as instabilities in the railway platforms (railway embankments and excavation slopes), the extension of existent hydraulic passages, bridge abutments protection and longitudinal drainage.
GEG was assigned for the stabilisation design of numerous embankment or excavation slopes, for the design of earth retaining walls and for the rehabilitation of the platform drainage system and several hydraulic underpasses located along the 30 km of rails that connect the city of El Gourzy to the capital of the Biskra district, an oasis at the Sahara’s Northern border.
