Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 27, 2009:

Thanks for all the suggestions. I really think I'll have to leave this question unresolved - for now!
A wider area of flat ground - that's how I understand the word, and on this basis, I translated it in a vague, noncommital way. It's just one item in a list of the areas of exposed soil which are planted (when construction of the railway is completed) with bushes, trees etc. to restore the landscape and prevent erosion. It's hardly crucial to the text as a whole, but it's one of those words that bother me.

Philip Lees Sep 24, 2009:

I just had an idea. πλάτυσμα can mean anything that's wide and flat. What about those places on a railway line where a single track splits into two, so that trains going in opposite directions can pass each other. So effectively the track area widens out. I don't know what the word for that in English is, though.

Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 24, 2009:

oh dear, now I've found out that "platysma" is a medical term ... but there may be something in it, the idea that πλάτυσμα is an embankment of some kind, or a feature (step? plateau?) of an embankment. I'm already using "embankment" for επίχωμα, so a different word for πλάτυσμα seems necessary!

Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 21, 2009:

It's an ERGOSE term. On the ERGOSE website, you can find a similar bit of text:

Οι χώροι των αναφερομένων τμημάτων της γραμμής που θα φυτευτούν είναι τα πρανή ορυγμάτων, τα πρανή επιχωμάτων, οι οριζόντιες πλευρικές λωρίδες, τα πλατύσματα, τα στόμια των Cut & Covers και σηράγγων και οι βοηθητικοί δρόμοι.
http://www.ergose.gr/ergosesite/inner.asp?CONTAINERID=8&REFC...

They provide an English version, where the word "steps" seems to correspond to πλατύσματα. I can't make sense of that. What kind of steps, where?

Dylan Edwards (asker) Sep 21, 2009:

I'm willing to consider all possibilities: For me, πλατύσματα is a very general word for "widenings". Is it possible to narrow down the meaning, e.g. is the word typically associated with roads?