Rail Embankment Stabilization for Cold Climate Railroads – Case of Hudson Bay Railway

Hudson Bay Railway (HBR) is a key trade link that connects domestic origins and destinations in Canada and United States with the export origins and destinations in Europe through the Port of Churchill. Over the last 80 years, the deterioration of the HBR embankment due to thawing discontinuous permafrost, combined with poor geotechnical properties of the muskeg soil has caused significant challenge in maintaining HBR line. Warming climate has further added to this challenge, causing major concern for the owner of the line, Omnitrax. Omnitrax is providing significant matching funding to the proposed project that would evaluate the rail embankment stabilization needs on the Hudson Bay Railway, using field and remotely sensed data. The key objectives of this project were to:  Define a rating system for severity of railway conditions in permafrost affected areas;  Design a “Best Practices Guide” to diagnose, document, and perform corrective actions addressing each severity rating; and Create a long-term solution for embankment stability.

Sponsor: 
NURail Center
Project Category: 
Status: 
Ongoing