Substantial cost reduction by intelligent management of railway ballast

In the course of periodical maintenance, the target geometry of the track or the switch should be restored without substantial exchange of track material. This restoration of the target geometry is performed using levelling; lining tamping and stabilising machines while the ballast cross-section is formed by ballast profiling machines. The ballast bed is an important part of the system. It is required to distribute the forces caused by the rail traffic uniformly onto the substructure, to supply the track grid with sufficient resistance against lateral and longitudinal shift and to keep the track dry through good air and water permeability. Around 3000 to 5000 m3 of ballast are lying on every kilometre of a double-track route depending upon the track design and track spacing. The economical handling and administration of these gigantic quantities of material represents a great challenge for the railway and track infrastructure management. Today machine manufacturers are expected to contribute towards economical ballast management through intelligent concepts.