Railways have long and firmly occupied a leading place in the transport network of Russia. The first railway, which appeared in 1837, connected St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo and laid the foundation for an entire industry. Today railways have become the main form of passenger and freight transport. The total length of such roads in the country exceeds 86 thousand km, and this network is constantly expanding.
A distinctive feature of railway construction in Russia is the linear nature of the work performed. Construction is carried out sequentially along the entire length of the future path; work begins at the starting point and ends at the end. Construction work is largely determined by the prevalence of harsh conditions in the country and depends on the weather, climate, as well as on the hydrological, geological and topographic pattern of the area.
The main stages of the construction of the railway are earthworks and the construction of the upper structure of the highway. Excavation work includes preparation, shaping and compaction of the road bed along with drainage of swamps and frost protection. The construction of the road superstructure includes the formation of the subrail base, the laying, fastening and connection of the rails.
The construction of the railway necessarily includes the construction of artificial structures - drainage trays, drainage pipes, overpasses, and so on. At the intersection with motorways, special transitional structures are arranged.
One of the most important stages of work is the formation of the subgrade, which is a complex of engineering structures on the ground. The safety of the road will depend on the quality of the roadway, because it takes the main load from the rolling stock and distributes it to the natural soil. The preparation of the canvas begins with soil drainage, groundwater drainage, followed by leveling and compaction of the soil. Most of the work is carried out using bulldozers, rollers, vibro-impact and ramming machines.
Simultaneously with the excavation work, track works also begin, including a set of measures for the construction of structural elements of the upper structure of the railway track. At the same stage, sleepers and rails are laid. In this case, two ways of laying are possible. In the first method, whole track links are installed, pre-assembled at production bases. This is the fastest but relatively expensive method. Another method involves the assembly of the so-called rail and sleep grid directly on the job site.
Track straightening operations are performed at all stages of construction. In this case, the position of the track is brought to the established standards that meet traffic safety and existing Russian standards. A fully laid track is run by trains and finally finished. Only after that the section of the railway is put into operation.
