Lower and Upper Structure

The lower structure is a part of the railway line, which consists of earthen soils (e.g. embankments, ditches, entrenchments) and man-made structures (e.g. trenches, drains, drainage outlets, linings, supporting and retaining walls, slopes with earthen structures, and slopes in the line area), bridging facilities, drainage systems, tunnels and galleries, level crossings, station buildings, devices and various facilities for the protection and securing of the line.

The upper structure of the railway lines includes maintenance and replacement of rails, fastening and connecting accessories, sleepers, the rail rod with a buffer layer or as the upper structure of the railway line on a rigid surface as a track without a rail rod on a concrete slab, steel track structures on asphalt surfaces, switches, intersections and expansion devices. Defects that occur over a certain period of time are eliminated on the upper structure, thereby slowing down the wear and tear of the material, establishing the correct geometry of the track, the prescribed track gauge, and the height and direction of the track.

The lines of the public railway infrastructure in terms of construction represent about 1,540 kilometres of tracks and about 2,400 switches. In the area of the public railway infrastructure, which we maintain as the operator, rails and switches of the 49E1, 54E1 and 60E1 systems are installed on both wooden and concrete sleepers. On all lines of the public railway infrastructure in the Republic of Slovenia, track gauge is 1,435mm.