“Ballast Railroad Design: SMART-UOW Approach” by Buddhima Indraratna and Trung Ngo CRC Press ISBN 9781138587038)

The book reviewer first saw the draft of this book during his time as the Industry Chair of Australian RailCRC Project on Railway Ballast Design in 2013. This ballast research is a national research project pioneered to mitigate the deterioration of ballast and track foundation funded by Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Rail Innovation (Australian RailCRC). Over the past 5 year, this book has significantly evolved (from the draft) and comprehensively accumulated not only theoretical background but also practical case studies and field experience for decision making of rail and geotechnical engineers. It should also be acknowledged that this book has been established from significant Australian rail industry input across the country (e.g. RailCorp NSW, Australian Rail Track Corporation, Queensland Rail, and Aurizon) together with the continuous research by the authors, Distinguish Professor Indraratna and Dr Ngo. It presents state-of-the-art knowledge and technologies for the comprehensive design of ballasted railway tracks based on a rational approach. The rational approach takes into account extensive laboratory testing, computational modelling and, importantly, field measurements conducted over the past two decades by the authors in Australia. This book portrays a variety of novelties in the advanced design of railway track geotechnics and provides an imperative design aid for rail practitioners, postgraduate students and researchers alike in railway engineering.