LID Approach to Railway Track Drainage: Determination of Heavy Metal Content in the Embankment of Railway

Abstract

Along with the increase in global pollution, every part of the urban system, including facilities for the transport of people and goods, is becoming increasingly interesting for the study. The first serious research into the impact of railway traffic on the environment appeared after the year 2000. So far, there have been few studies, the main shortcoming of which is a lack of understanding about pollutant migration. With this in mind, in this paper, an investigation and control of the railway track with regard to the presence, content and migration paths of heavy metals was provided. For the research purposes, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and optical emission spectrometry with induced coupled plasma were used. It was found that the maximum allowable values were exceeded for cadmium, cobalt, copper, zinc, nickel, vanadium, barium, chromium and iron. In the course of determining the amount of these elements in the railway track, there was also evidence of significant metal infiltration into the lower layers. This indicated the ability of heavy metals to migrate, even through mechanically compacted soil. Detailed knowledge of these issues is of huge importance, which enables the selection of adequate techniques to prevent the migration of heavy metals into the lower layers of the ground and the surrounding soil, among which the elements of Low Impact Development technology stand out in recent years, which could find a very wide and effective application in railway engineering.