scope:

This part of the handbook applies to all Network Rail owned or managed, Shared or Outside Party Retaining Walls (normally excluding Minor Retaining Walls) and other Structures that have been assigned Structure Category B in accordance with NR/L1/CIV/032: Managing existing Structures¹.

Retaining Walls and other Structures assigned to Structure Category B include:

• gravity walls including mass masonry and mass concrete walls;

• reinforced soil slope, with or without soil nails or other mechanical (anchor) whose face angle is equal to or greater than 70 degrees to the horizontal;

• gabions;

• dry stone walls;

• cantilever walls including:

i. sheet pile wall with or without anchors

ii. contiguous piled wall

iii. pile and anchor system;

iv. reinforced concrete 'L' shape

v. king post and sleeper (or similar variations)

•Catch Walls;

•catch netting including fixing to the retained material;

•facing walls;

• those exceptional boundary walls, free-standing walls and Minor Retaining Walls where the consequences of their Failure could, in the opinion of the Structure Manager, be particularly serious.

A spandrel wall or ballast wall that is integral with a Structure is examined as part of the Structure.

Walls that form part of a Coastal, Estuarine or River Defence shall be examined in accordance with Part 6.

Wing walls, headwalls and abutments that form part of a Bridge, Culvert or Tunnel shall be examined in accordance with Part 2A, Part 3, Part 4A or Part 4B respectively.

Purpose

The purpose of this part of the handbook is to define the particular requirements and recommendations for examination of Retaining Walls.

¹ This provides information on managing Structures for all Structure Categories.