Technical Specifications

  • Product: ViaPlate corrugated steel structure
  • Design load: Eurocode LM71 train load
  • Cover depth:
    Minimum 0.9 m – maximum 25 m
  • Backfill requirements:
    Backfill material compacted to 95% standard Proctor density. Structures inspected for alignment, joint separation, bolt-hole cracking, distortion, bulging, flattening, or racking. Balanced earth loads maintained during installation.
  • Seismic considerations: Included in design
  • Design service life:
    70 years (culverts)
    100 years (underpasses)
  • Corrosion protection:
    Sacrificial steel thickness and zinc coating

Project Background

The Awash–Kombolcha–Hara Gebaya railway is a 426 km single-track railway connecting northern and eastern Ethiopia. The line plays a key role in supporting passenger transport and freight movement, including import–export logistics through the Port of Djibouti.

The project was executed by Turkish contractor Yapı Merkezi and included a large number of crossings and hydraulic structures. In total, the railway required more than 1,000 hydraulic culverts and approximately 60 underpasses along the route.

One of the main engineering challenges was logistics. The railway corridor passes through remote areas where concrete production facilities were not available, making traditional reinforced concrete structures difficult to produce and transport.

Engineering Solution

To address these constraints, the project team selected corrugated steel structures as the preferred solution for culverts and crossings.

ViaCon supplied ViaPlate corrugated steel structures, which can be transported as individual steel plates and assembled on site. This modular system significantly simplifies logistics and allows installation in locations where heavy prefabricated elements or concrete production are not feasible.

The flexibility of the system also allowed the structures to be adapted to different hydraulic and structural requirements along the railway alignment.

Technical Specifications

  • Product: ViaPlate corrugated steel structure
  • Design load: Eurocode LM71 train load
  • Cover depth:
    Minimum 0.9 m – maximum 25 m
  • Backfill requirements:
    Backfill material compacted to 95% standard Proctor density. Structures inspected for alignment, joint separation, bolt-hole cracking, distortion, bulging, flattening, or racking. Balanced earth loads maintained during installation.
  • Seismic considerations: Included in design
  • Design service life:
    70 years (culverts)
    100 years (underpasses)
  • Corrosion protection:
    Sacrificial steel thickness and zinc coating

Structural System

The installed structures provide:

  • Hydraulic culverts for drainage along the railway corridor
  • Underpasses for pedestrian and animal crossings
  • Structural solutions capable of supporting railway loads

The modular plate design allows the geometry and size of each structure to be adapted according to site conditions and hydraulic requirements.

Construction Advantages

Using corrugated steel structures allowed the contractor to optimize transport and installation across the long railway corridor.

Key advantages included:

  • Simplified transport to remote locations
  • Fast on-site assembly using bolted steel plates
  • Reduced dependence on local concrete production
  • Flexible adaptation to varying site conditions

The approach contributed to both time savings and cost efficiency during the construction of the railway infrastructure.