<p>Rapid infrastructure expansion increasingly necessitates construction on marginal sites underlain by soft soils, where effective ground improvement is essential. This paper presents recent advances and emerging innovations in encased stone columns (ESCs) for soft ground stabilization, with emphasis on time-dependent behaviour under embankment loading. The deformation response, load transfer, and governing mechanisms of soft clay improved using ordinary stone columns (OSCs), ESCs, and electrokinetic-assisted encased stone columns (<i>e</i>-ESCs) are investigated through a combined program of numerical modelling, centrifuge testing, and large-scale electrokinetic consolidation experiments. Results show that geosynthetic encasement significantly reduces settlement and excess pore water pressure while maintaining higher stress concentration ratios than OSCs, with diminishing benefits beyond a critical encasement length. Centrifuge tests capture realistic deformation and failure modes, confirming improved stress transfer and column stability. Integration of electrokinetic treatment further accelerates consolidation, enhances pore-water discharge, reduces the void ratio at low surcharge levels, and substantially increases shear strength. The influence of voltage gradient and anode material on settlement, discharge, energy consumption, and pH was quantified, revealing optimal performance at moderate voltage gradients and electrochemically active anodes. The findings highlight the coupled mechanical–hydraulic–electrochemical mechanisms governing ESC performance and demonstrate the effectiveness of <i>e</i>-ESCs for embankment construction on soft soils.</p>