Various geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures for hokkaido high-speed train line

Abstract

A new high-speed train line between S hin-Aomori S tation (at the north end of Main Island) and Shin-Hakodate Station (at the south end of Hokkaido Island), called Hokkaido Shinkansen, is near the end of construction and will be opened 2015. At many sites in a range of 37.3 km at the south end of Hokkaido Island, the following various types of geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) structure were constructed: 1) GRS retaining walls having full-height rigid facing (about 3.5 km-long in total); 2) GRS bridge abutments (in total 29), having fully replaced the conventional type bridge abutments; 3) a GRS integral bridge, the world-first one at Kikonai; 4) three GRS box culvert structures integrated to GRS RWs; and 5) GRS protection structures at the tunnel entrance at nine sites. Very likely, the density of these constructed GRS structures is highest ever for railways, definitely so for high speed.