Wooden railway sleepers are impregnated with the chemicals that prevent the disassembling of the woodsplitter. Such chemical wood impregnator as creosote or shale oil have been widely used to prolong the lifetime ofwooden railway sleepers, protecting them from the negative microorganisms and atmospheric effects. These substancesare based on aromatic hydrocarbons (powerful carcinogens), phenolic compounds, heterocyclic nitrogen, oxygen, andsulfur compounds. Lithuania formes over 30,000 pieces of wooden sleepers improper for use annually. Based on theexisting environmental legislation, used wooden railway sleepers can not be burned anywehere else except hazardouswaste inceneration facilities or can not be buried because of their negative impact on the environment and human health,therefore, this unsuitable wooden sleepers are only stored in their collection or storage areas and they are a major threatto the environment. The aim of this articel is to study how the wooden railway sleepers stored in Vilnius city (Lithuania)are contaminated with the aromatic hydrocarbons using the gas chromatography. Wooden railway sleepers were sampledand prepared for chemical analysis.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/enviro.2017.060