COMPARISON OF HIGHWAY AND RAILWAY SUBGRADE

DESIGN
OBJECTIVE:
 To compare the design standard of Highway and Railway subgrade.

INTRODUCTION:
Road and Railway are the two major modes of transportation system. At present scenario, the notion of
integrated transport systems received much attention, particularly with improvements in freight
transportation capacity, efficiency, and reliability. Many researchers are curious about this topic as the
integrated system can significantly contribute to improve road safety, efficiency and comfort, as well as
environmental conservation through realization of smoother traffic by relieving traffic congestion.
Many factors are to be considered while designing the integrated transportation system and one of them is
“subgrade”. Simply, subgrade is the insitu material upon which the pavement structure is placed. It
provides support to the super structure of any constructions. The quality of the subgrade will greatly
influence the pavement design, road operation safety and overall life of the transportation system.
This paper aims to elucidate various aspect for subgrade design of railway and highway and compare the
specifications of Highway and Railway subgrade design and constructions.

Specifications for Highway Subgrade Design and Construction:

Table 1: Suitability of soils for subgrade applications

Modulus of
Subgrade Load Support and Subgrade Resilient
Unified Soil CBR
Soils for Drainage Reaction Modulus Range
Classifications
Design Characteristics (k), (MR), psi
psi/inch
Excellent support and
Crushed GW, GP, and GU drainage characteristics 220 to 250 Greater than 30 to 80
Stone with no frost potential 5700
Excellent support and
drainage characteristics
Gravel GW, GP, and GU 200 to 220 4500 to 5700 30 to 80
with very slight frost
potential
Good support and fair
GW-GM, GP-
Silty drainage, characteristics
GM, 150 to 200 4000 to 5700 20 to 60
gravel with moderate frost
and GM
potential
Good support and
SW, SP, GP-GM, excellent drainage
Sand 150 to 200 4000 to 5700 10 to 40
and GM characteristics with very
slight frost potential
 SM, non-
Poor support and poor
Silty plastic (NP), drainage with very high 100 to 150 2700 to 4000 5 to 30
sand and >35% frost potential
silt (minus #200)
SM, Plasticity Poor support and fair to
Index (PI) <10, poor drainage with
Silty sand 100 to 150 2700 to 4000 5 to 20
and moderate to high frost
<35 % silt potential
ML, >50% silt, Poor support and
Silt liquid limit <40, impervious drainage with 50 to 100 1000 to 2700 1 to 15
and PI <10 very high frost value

Very poor support and

Clay CL, liquid limit impervious drainage 50 to 100 1000 to 2700 1 to 15
>40 and PI >10 with high frost potential

Source: American Concrete Pavement Association; Asphalt Paving Association; State of Ohio; State
of Iowa; Rollings and Rollings 1996.

Table 2: Standard Roadbed width for Different classes of highway:

Highway Grade Expressway First-class Second- Third Fourth-
highway class -class class
Highway High Highway
way
Design Speed (km/h) 120 100 80 100 80 60 80 60 40 30 20
Number of lanes ≥4 ≥4 2 2 2（1）
Land width (m) 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.75 3.5 3.75 3.5 3.5 3.25 3.0
0
Subgrade width (m) 42.5 35.0 27.5 25.5 25.5 22.5 22.5 12 8.5 8.5 7.5
Stopping Sight 210 160 110 160 110 75 110 75 40 30 20
Distance (m)
Circ Maxim 10% 570 360 220 360 220 115 220 115 - - -
ular um 8% 650 400 250 400 250 125 250 125 60 30 15
Curv Longitu 6% 710 440 270 440 270 135 270 135 60 35 15
e dinal 4% 810 500 300 500 300 150 300 150 65 40 20
Radi Slope
us (%)
(m)
Maximum 3 4 5 4 5 6 5 6 7 8 9
longitudinal slope (%)
 Table 3. Minimum load bearing ratio requirements for road bed packing
Subgrade Depth below Minimum load-bearing ratio of the filler (CBR)
the bottom (%)
surface of the Expressway, Second-class Third- and
pavement (m) First-class Road Road fourth- class
Road
Roadbed 0-0.3 8 6 5
Underpass Light, Medium and 0.3-0.8 5 4 3
Bed Heavy traffic
Extra heavy and 0.3-1.2 5 4 -
extremely heavy
traffic

Table 4. Degree of compaction required for road bed

Subgrade Depth below Degree of Compaction for Roadbed (%)
the ground Expressway, Second-class Third- and
surface (m) First-class Road Road fourth- class
Road
Roadbed 0-0.3 ≥96 ≥95 ≥94
Underpass Light, Medium 0.3-0.8 ≥96 ≥95 ≥94
Bed and Heavy traffic
Extra heavy and 0.3-1.2 ≥96 ≥95 -
extremely heavy
traffic
Specifications for Railway Subgrade Design and Construction:

Table 5: Layer thickness for subgrade bed for selective types of railways in China
Types of Railways Conventional Old High-speed railway Intercity railway
Railway heavy-
haul
railway
Ballast track Ballast Ballast Slab Ballast Slab
track track track track track
Thickness Surface 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.4 0.5 0.3
(m) layer
Bottom 1.9 1.9 2.3 2.3 1.5 1.5
layer
(Source: TB 1000-2005, TB 10621-2014, TB 10623-2014, GB 50299-1999)

Table 6: Standard Roadbed width for Straight Sections of Electrified Railway with mixed
passenger and freight lines
Project Unit Railway Class I Railway
Class II
Design km/h 200 160 120 ≤120
Speed
Double line m 4.4 4.2 4.0 4.0
spacing
Single m 3.5 3.4 3.4 3.4
track
track-bed
Top width
Track bed Layer single double single double single doubl single
structure e
Thickness m 0.35 0.30 0.50 0.35 0.30 0.50 0.35 0.30 0.45 0.30
of track
bed
Single line m 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1 8.1
(7.7) (7.7) (7.8) (7.7) (7.7) (7.8) (7.7) (7.7) (7.7) (7.7)
Double line m 12.5 12.5 12.3 12.3 12.3 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1 12.1
(12.3) (12.1) (12.2) (11.9) (11.9) (12.0) (11.7) (11.7) (11.8) (11.7)
Source: (Table 3.2.5-1: Code for Design of Railway Earth Structure (TB 10001-2016))

Table 7: Standard Subgrade width high-speed railway

Project Unit Ballast track Ballastless Track
Design Speed km/h 350 300 250 350 300 250
Double Line Spacing m 5.0 4.8 4.6 5.0 4.8 4.6
Thickness of track bed m 0.35 0.35 0.35 - - -
Width of Single line m 8.8 8.8 8.8 8.6 8.6 8.6
subgrade Double line m 13.8 13.6 13.4 13.6 13.4 13.2
surface
Source: (Table 3.2.5-2: Code for Design of Railway Earth Structure (TB 10001-2016))
Table 8: Strength and deformation criteria for subgrade design of High-Speed Railway
Strength Control Deformation Control
Dynamic modulus of
Modulus of Subgrade
deformation (EVd) / Post-completion Settlement
reaction (K30) / MPa.m-1
MPa
Surface layer
≥190 < 15mm
of subgrade
Surface
Ballastless < 30mm
≥130 layer of ≥55
track (settlement is
(sand and subgrade
Bottom layer uniform and
fine)
of subgrade Rsh≥0.4v2)
≥150 v=250
≥5cm
(gravel) km/h
≥110 Bottom ≥3cm
Ballast v=300
(sand and layer of ≥40 (with the
track km/h
Embankment fine) subgrade rate less
≥130 v=350 than
(gravel) km/h 2cm/year)
Source: Railways. In China's High-Speed Rail Technology. Springer, Singapore. Liu, X., Xiao, J.,
Cai, D., Su, Q., Yang, G., Yuan, S., & Jiang, G. (2023). Recent advances in Subgrade Engineeering
for High-speed railway. Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure.
 CONCLUSION
In this report, subgrade design standards have been studied as per the Chinese standard code. All the
observations (Tables) mentioned above are drawn from Chinese Standard Code for subgrade design of
Railway and Highway. Till present date, there is no any standard code for subgrade design of
integrated transportation system. Hence, I have tried to make a summary on comparison of the
Highway and Railway subgrade design (Table 9). Some specific parameters like Thickness of
subgrade, Modulus of subgrade, modulus of deformations, etc. are noted as per the design speed of
railway and Highway. For this specific report, Expressway and Conventional Railway (Ballast track)
id taken as an example however, the comparisons can be made as per the author’s interest and
requirements.
Table 9: Comparison of Highway (Expressway) and Railway (Conventional Railway (Ballast
Track)) Subgrade Construction Requirement

Parameter Railway Highway Remarks

Design Speed (km/h) 160-200 80-120

Thickness Surface 0.6 0.3

of subgrade layer
(m)
Bottom 1.9 0.5 -0.8 Bottom-layer subgrade thickness
layer depends upon the type of traffic:
0.5 for Light, Medium and Heavy
Traffic and 0.8 for Extra heavy
and extremely heavy traffic.
Width of Surface 8.1 27.5 - 42.5 For expressway, it depends on
road-bed / layer number of lanes and design
track-bed Bottom 12.5 speed.
(m) layer
Modulus of Surface ≥190 100-400
Subgrade layer (depending upon
(K30) Bottom ≥130 (sand and fine) type of Granular
(Mpa.m-1) layer ≥150 (gravel) Material)
Dynamic Surface ≥55 20-135 The range mentioned for
modulus of layer expressway depends on subgrade
deformatio Bottom ≥40 soil (for example: if it’s high
n (EVd) layer liquid limit clayey soil (CH), it
(MPa) ranges from 20 to 50 and if it’s
Gravel (G), it ranges from 110 to
135).
Allowable Post- < 15 mm (Surface ≤ 30 mm (General
Construction Layer) Section)
Settlement ≤ 20 mm (Culvert,
< 30 mm (Bottom channel)
Layer) ≤ 10 mm (Joint of
bridge abutment
and embankment)
[NOTE: Selected values may vary on the type of roadway or railway. The comparisons can be drawn in similar way
for other types using above-mentioned tables.]
References:
1. Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China. Specifications for Design of
Highway Subgrades D30-2015[S]. Beijing: China Communication Press,2015.
2. National Railway Administration. Code for Design of Railway Earth Structure TB 10001—
2016[S]. Beijing: China Railway Press,2017.
3. National Railway Administration. Code for Design of Railway Earth Structure TB 10621—
2014S]. Beijing: China Railway Press,2015.
4. Railways. In China's High-Speed Rail Technology. Springer, Singapore. Liu, X., Xiao, J.,
Cai, D., Su, Q., Yang, G., Yuan, S., & Jiang, G. (2023). Recent advances in Subgrade
Engineeering for High-speed railway. Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure.
5. American Concrete Pavement Association; Asphalt Paving Association; State of Ohio; State
of Iowa; Rollings and Rollings 1996.