The use of geotextiles in rail industry provides structural and economic benefits over traditional techniques. When properly applied, these innovative fabrics enhance railroads performance by increasing working life and intervals between maintenance cycles.

Geotextiles are engineered to perform a series of key functions in new track construction or rehabilitation of existing rail, namely soil reinforcement, filtration, separation of materials with different particle size distributions and drainage.

• Soil Reinforcement:

When installed over unstable subgrades, Minet products (geotextiles, geogrids and geocells) increase the load capacity of the system, stabilizing the soil through better stress distribution. This results in optimum support of the ballast sublayer, ensuring the structural integrity of the railway platform.

• Filtration

Minet geotextiles act as a filter retaining subgrade particles while allowing the water to pass freely. This function is possible due to adequate permeability and retention properties as well as resistance to clogging.

• Separation

Minet geotextiles help maintain the integrity of adjacent soil types in the embankment structure, acting as a separator between layers with different particle sizes. Consequently, the track foundation is stabilized, significantly increasing the overall service life.

• Drainage

Adequate drainage is the key to a stable railroad track structure as it prevents track damage due to the action of rain or ground waters. Minet products meet drainage requirements thanks to adequate discharge capacity and high resistance to mechanical damage.

Advantages

• Lower costs – by reducing the amount of aggregate required
• Faster construction time –less aggregate means decreased construction time.
• Reduced Maintenance – by minimizing lateral creep and ballast settlement
• Effective drainage of the roadbed
• Increased life of mechanical rail line components
• Reducing the need for speed restrictions

Minet offers a wide range of products, including radar detectable geotextiles (RDG), with AFER certification. Ground Penetration Radar detects the signal reflection from the layers of the substructure, identifying the variations of the ballast fouling.