Recent research development and their applications on aseismic reinforcement of existing railway earth structures

In Japan, most of the existing railway earth structures were constructed before the development of the technical standards for design and construction. This suggests the risk of major deformation or failure during a massive earthquake is significant. Therefore, seismic diagnosis and aseismic reinforcement are required to ensure safety and resilience against massive earthquakes. The aseismic reinforcement of existing railway earth structures, such as embankments, cuts, retaining walls and bridge abutment, to prevent damage from massive earthquakes has been underway since around 2010. It is necessary to develop an aseismic reinforcement methodology since the ratio of earth structures in the existing railways exceeds 80 percent. Therefore, the Railway Technical Research Institute has been developing aseismic reinforcement methods together with cooperating organizations. This paper is an overview of the research and development of aseismic reinforcement methods of the existing railway earth structures, examples of their practical application, and future research issues.