trackbed

From track +‎ bed (“place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid”).[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹækbɛd/

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• Hyphenation: track‧bed

trackbed (plural trackbeds) (rail transport)

1. The layer of gravel or other foundation on which a railway track is laid.

   Synonyms: bed, railbed

   • 1963 October, G[eoffrey] Freeman Allen; R. K. Evans, “The Japanese National Railways and the New Tokaido Line”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, ISSN 0141-9935, OCLC 35845948, page 238:

     Given a mandate to build a new railway from the trackbed up, the Japanese have seized an unprecedented opportunity, not only to apply to its equipment their immense technological resources, but to incorporate in its operational scheme the Utopian concepts which those modernising an existing line can at best realise partially.

   • 2022 September 7, “East–West track laying heads westwards”, in Rail, number 965, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, ISSN 0953-4563, OCLC 999467860, page 36:

     The Bicester–Bletchley section is being rebuilt on the alignment of the line that closed to passengers in 1968. Since 2019, the track bed and bridges have been rebuilt, and this work is mostly complete.

2. (loosely) The land on which a railway (especially one that has been closed or dismantled) was built; the roadbed for a railroad.

   Holonym: right of way

   • 2017 March, “What if These Lost Lines Hadn’t Closed at All?”, in Rail‎, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, ISSN 0953-4563, OCLC 999467860, archived from the original on 2022-05-16:

     The trackbed of the majority of the ten miles from Padstow to Boscarne Junction is still intact and used as a cycle way, although the section where the railway once went through Wadebridge has been lost to development.

   • 2019, Alan Staniforth, “Clay Bank to Kildale”, in Cleveland Way (Official National Trail Guide), revised edition, London: Aurum Press, in association with Walk Unlimited, →ISBN, part 2, page 64:

     Just before Bloworth Crossing, you'll walk a short distance along the trackbed of the old mineral railway that connected the ironstone mines at Rosedale with the blast furnaces of Middlesbrough.

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