Quality Assessment of Ballast Cleaning by Ballast Cleaning Machine

Abstract

The ballasted track is the most widely used in the rail transportation system. The maintenance schemes of the ballast track are essential to maintain the performance of the railway. The track maintenance to provide good track can be separated into (i) track superstructure, including the rail, fastening system, and sleeper that support the load from the train by reducing the stresses for the substructure layer. (ii) track substructure consists of ballast, sub-ballast, and subgrade that support the loads and distribute them to the foundation. Ballast cleaning is the method to remove existing fouling material in order to ensure good track substructure performance. Ballast fouling significantly affects the bearing capacity of track structure, which can be evaluated by increasing fine particle and ballast degradation. This study presents the type of evaluation and quality assessment of ballast cleaning by the undercutting machine in Thailand, which comprises the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and ballast gradation based on the case study of the northern railway line of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and also recommended to track maintenance plan in the future.