ABSTRACT
A high speed train can go faster than the wavespeed in the soil under the track. In the Netherlands this problem is not imaginary. The wavespeed of the surface waves in the western part of the country is 40-80 m/s (= 150300 km/h). This is surpassed by modern high speed trains. At this moment the trainspeed is up to 160 km/h, so the new trains are beyond practical experience. A trainspeed near the critical speed leads to a larger deflection and consequently to a loss of comfort for passengers and a strong need for suitable engineering works. Therefore, it is required to have some preliminary insight in the problem. The problem is studied theoretically by many researchers, amongst them at Delft University of Technology: Dieterman & Metrikine [3], Verruijt [8] and Verruijt & Cornejo Córdova [9].
