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West Somerset Mineral Railway embankment near Gupworthy, UK

To keep a road or railway line straight and/or flat, and where the comparative cost or practicality of alternate solutions (such as diversion) is prohibitive, the land over which the road or rail line will travel is built up to form an embankment. An embankment is therefore in some sense the opposite of a cutting, and embankments are often constructed using material obtained from a cutting. Alternatively the term fill is used to denote an embankment.

Embankments should be constructed using suitable materials to provide adequate support to the formation and long-term stability.

History

The term cutting appears in the 19th century literature to designate rock cuts developed to moderate grades of rail lines.^[1]

See also

Examples of transportation embankments include:

References