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Blasting Technique for Stabilizing Accident-Prone Slope for Sustainable Railway Route


Affiliations
1 CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India
2 Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826 004, India
 

Konkan Railway has many unstable slopes along the 741 km long route from Roha to Thokur in the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka in India. Frequent cases of boulder fall, slope failure and landslide used to occur on the track during the rainy season. Such cases have resulted in several severe train accidents, traffic interruptions, loss of lives and assets. Hence the Konkan Railway Corporation deployed several geotechnical measures such as wire-netting, retaining wall, rock bolting and shotcreting for stability enhancement. However, none of these measures proved effective and accidents continued. Finally, the Konkan Railway Corporation decided to redesign the cut-slopes using blasting. Excavation of hard rock for its removal without damaging the existing track (2– 3 m away from the slope) and disrupting the traffic, was a daunting task. An unplanned blast would have resulted in the closure of the route for hours. The present study explains the method in which entire cutting was redesigned by formation of 5 to 2 m wide berms at an interval of 6 m bench height from rail track level using novel direction controlled blasting technique. Further, stability of the cut-slope, before and after exacavation, has been determined using kinematic analysis and 3D numerical modelling. Similar technique can be adopted to widen or stabilize an active transportation route in hills.

Keywords

Blasting, Kinematic Analysis, Numerical Modelling, Railway Track, Slope Rockmass Removal, Stabilization.
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  • Blasting Technique for Stabilizing Accident-Prone Slope for Sustainable Railway Route

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Authors

N. K. Bhagat
CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India
A. K. Mishra
Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826 004, India
M. M. Singh
CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India
Aditya Rana
CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India
S. Tewari
CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India
P. K. Singh
CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, Dhanbad 826 015, India

Abstract


Konkan Railway has many unstable slopes along the 741 km long route from Roha to Thokur in the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka in India. Frequent cases of boulder fall, slope failure and landslide used to occur on the track during the rainy season. Such cases have resulted in several severe train accidents, traffic interruptions, loss of lives and assets. Hence the Konkan Railway Corporation deployed several geotechnical measures such as wire-netting, retaining wall, rock bolting and shotcreting for stability enhancement. However, none of these measures proved effective and accidents continued. Finally, the Konkan Railway Corporation decided to redesign the cut-slopes using blasting. Excavation of hard rock for its removal without damaging the existing track (2– 3 m away from the slope) and disrupting the traffic, was a daunting task. An unplanned blast would have resulted in the closure of the route for hours. The present study explains the method in which entire cutting was redesigned by formation of 5 to 2 m wide berms at an interval of 6 m bench height from rail track level using novel direction controlled blasting technique. Further, stability of the cut-slope, before and after exacavation, has been determined using kinematic analysis and 3D numerical modelling. Similar technique can be adopted to widen or stabilize an active transportation route in hills.

Keywords


Blasting, Kinematic Analysis, Numerical Modelling, Railway Track, Slope Rockmass Removal, Stabilization.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi6%2F901-909