Not only in the production of park benches can mixed plastic waste be reused. The so-called polymers, among which PET also belongs, known in the production of bottles, or polyethylene, used in packing materials, have also been used abroad for the production of railway sleepers in the recent decades. Their main advantage is in their physical and mechanical properties suitable for railway, which are achieved by the combination of properties of the polymer and the metal or glass reinforcement.
Polymers combine the advantages of commonly used railway sleeper materials because they are durable like concrete, flexible like wood and are not prone to biodegradability.
In his doctoral thesis, Ing. Vít Lojda, Ph.D., from the Department of Railway Structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering CTU, focused on the research of railway sleepers made of polymers. The aim of the thesis is the research in applicability of railway sleepers produced abroad assessed using numerical and experimental methods. The result of the doctoral thesis is then the recommendation of the range and way of their application in the Czech railways and the preparation of the first trial section of railway.