Railway Route Design in Desert Areas

Developing transportation infrastructures is the main condition for sustainable development of different regions of a country. In Asian, African & American countries such as Iran, China and Syria, in rail transportation network devel- opment, railway, inevitably, cross through desert areas and dry lands. These areas have their own typical problems & diffi- culties among which high temperature, dryness, existing of flowing sands, and… can be mentioned. Flowing sand is one of the serious problems of Railways during operation. For this, it is necessary to gain more recognition on flowing sand movement case including identification sand removal basins (zone), wind blowing direction, and its intensity during year, determining sand movement corridors and recognizing sedimentation basins, when designing the route. Experience shows that crossing railway through flowing sand removal basins as well as sedimentation basins, practically, jeopardize train operation and threatening running safety. Using modern methods to confront and/or halter flowing sands while imposing more costs does not provide sufficient reliability. Therefore, at least as a design necessity and obligation, it is proposed that to prohibit construction of railway crossing through sand removal & sedimentation basins. And railway should merely cross through flowing sands moving corridors the way that flowing sands may be haltered.