Ballast Cleaning of Single-Track Railway Lines: A Strategic Analysis

In conventional, permanent way, the railroad track skeleton, consisting of rails, sleepers and track fastenings, floats on the ballast bed. But over the years, high ballast pressures, in combination with dynamic traffic loads, cause frictional wear of the ballast stones and eventually cause the ballast bed to lose its stability. This article presents three different ballast cleaning technologies for the purpose of restoring the ballast bed to its original condition. The three technologies for single track railway lines presented are: one with an average output, one with a high output, and one with a very high output. The analysis presented has shown that using track bound technologies, it is possible to efficiently perform ballast cleaning of single track railway lines without interrupting traffic.