trackbed

Noun

trackbed (plural trackbeds)

1. The layer of gravel or other foundation on which a railway track is laid.
   • 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...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, →OCLC, page 238
   • 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.2022 September 7, “East–West track laying heads westwards”, in Rail, number 965, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 36

   Synonyms:

   bed, railbed

2. (broadly) 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
   • 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.2017 March, “What if These Lost Lines Hadn’t Closed at All?”, in Rail, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: Bauer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 16 May 2022