Infrastructural projects such as roads and railway tracks are usually built on an embankment of sand or granular material. When building on soft soils, the prevention of differential settlements and resulting damage is traditionally done by  including a long settlement period in the construction process. One method to decrease construction time is to use a pile foundation beneath the embankment. If a Geosynthetic Reinforcement (GR) is used in the base of the embankment, the construction is called a basal reinforced piled embankment.