Assessment of railroad soil pollution around wooden sleepers in Korea

초록

Generally, creosote is used for preservative treatment at the production of wooden sleepers. So, the soil around the loaded wooden sleepers can be contaminated by the leakage of creosote components from wooden sleepers. Main soil regulation pollutant around the wooden sleeper in Korea is benzo(a)pyrene. Based on the statistical data of Korean Railway (KORAIL), about 711 thousands of wooden sleepers have been stored at various railroad sites. The purpose of this study was to investigate benzo(a)pyrene concentration in the soil around the loaded wooden sleepers. We sampled the surface soils around the loaded wooden sleepers at 19 points of 7 railroad sites. Benzo(a)pyrene concentration in the soil was analyzed using Korean Ministry of Environment Standard. As a result, the benzo(a)pyrene concentrations of 19 soil samples were in the range of 0 ?1.63 mg/kg-soil much lower than the regulation level of 7 mg/kg-soil designated from Soil Environment Preservation Law in Korea. Benzo(a)pyrene concentrations in the soil around the loaded old wooden sleepers were more than new wooden sleepers. In the future, it is necessary to prevent the leakage of benzo(a)pyrene into the soil using the package method for the storage of wooden sleepers at railroad site.