During the years 1993 to 1995, the 150 year old railway between Berlin and Hamburg was upgraded to allow a speed of 200 km/h and heavy loads. Westwards of Berlin the railway passes for 13 km an area with deposits of soft organic soils. An embankment on grouted stone columns with one layer of geogrid reinforcement was constructed. Shortly after the end of the reconstruction settlements and ballast bed deformations started. For this reason and also due to the general need of further upgrading a second reconstruction stage was planned. Extensive investigations (three-dimensional numerical studies, pull-out and geogrid-geogrid shear tests etc.) were carried out. The final developed cross section is an optimum of system behaviour and constructability. In summer 2003 the entire stretch was rebuilt in only eight weeks and put into operation again. The paper describes the results of the investigations, the design and the construction of the track. In addition first in situ measurement results are given.