CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 GENERAL

Numerous studies have been conducted during decades to investigate

the performance of infrastructure systems and how to improve them. The
foundation of whole railway track system, railway track provides a plat for
train. In general, railroad track consists of rail, rail joint, railroad tie, railroad
fasteners, etc. Railroad track is also known as track or railway track or
permanent way. The requests on the track system have changed greatly since
the start of railways. This applies not only to parameters such as axle load and
speed, but also less obvious factors such as train length and density. In
addition to the ideal design of track grid floating in ballast, other non-
conventional designs have been developed with varying degrees of success.
The railway permanent way has an average useful life in between 30 and 60
years. Because of the large financial investments that are necessary,
innovations in the field of railway framework only gain acceptance slowly.

Ballast was originally chosen as a basis for the railway framework due
to its ready availability and good maintenance options.. The replacement of
the complete system was previously influenced by wear on the sleepers and
rails.

According to the presence of ballast, railway track structures can be

divided into two main categories:
 Ballasted track systems
 Ballastless track systems

Ballasted track is a type of common railway track whose bed is made

up of ballast, also called ordinary track. It may be divided into two parts,
substructure and superstructure. The track is commonly composed of steel
rail, railroad tie, railway fasteners and ballast bed. The main functions of
ballast are to support the weight of the track, absorb static and dynamic loads

1
of passing trains and reduce the stress on the ground. A layer of gravel is
laid between ground and railway sleeper to form the track bed. Track bed
(ballast bed) can enhance the flexibility and drainage performance of railway
track. Ballasted track also make track easy to repair. These tracks performed
well over the years and are still widely used worldwide. But the increased
loads in the recent decades, incurred the need to change this track system.
Mainly the increase of speed and axle load has forced the railway construction
engineers to try finding other solutions in this topic. These challenges in the
conventional ballasted track system gave birth to ballastless railway track
system.

Ballastless track is a type of railway track framework in which the

traditional elastic combination of sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid
construction of concrete or asphalt. Generally, ballastless track is made up of
steel rail, railway fasteners and slab. Instead of ballast bed, steel rail and
railway sleeper was laid on the concrete track. Therefore it offer a high
consistency in track geometry, the adjusting of which is not possible after the
concreting of the superstructure. Thus ballastless tracks ensure very good
geometrical stability of the track compared to the ballasted track. This has
eliminated the worst characteristics of ballasted track systems, the permanent
and uneven deformations due to the loads that lead to the gradual deterioration
of the track geometry.

2
 CHAPTER 2

BALLASTLESS TRACK

2.1 GENERAL

Railway track traditionally lies on ballast or coarse-graded granular

materials. The role of ballast in track is to distribute stresses from wheels of
vehicles to the substructure, drainage of the system and to provide a
foundation for sleepers. Based on many experiments and analysis that have
been done in recent decades, ballasted track is susceptible to many defects. On
routes where the travelling speed is over 250km/h, replacing the ballast
becomes necessary. The negative impact of the ballast on the service life of
the track led to the initial designs of ballastless track. The ballast was replaced
by sub-layers of concrete or asphalt which, unlike ballast, have no or only
slight plastic deformation. The lack of elasticity of these layers was
compensated by the conscious use of elastic components. Only in this way
can the necessary deflection of the track and the resulting load distribution on
the multiple supporting points be achieved. Depending on the type of slab
track system, resilience is introduced into the track system by elastic fastening
elements and with elastomeric components, as pads, bearings or springs. The
ballastless track may be more costly to construct, but the lower cost and
conditions for track maintenance during the serviceability life span, which is
also high, proves that in a long term perspective it is economically more
efficient. An important advantage in the maintenance work of the ballastless
track is the easier and more economic vegetation control compared to
conventional tracks, where the vegetation can cause stability issues in the
ballast bed. Due to the lower height and weight, the ballastless track is more
economical to be used at tunnels and bridges (mainly steel bridges).
2.2 DESIGN

The design of a ballastless track is generally made up of the

following components:
 Rail
 Rail fastening
 Sleeper
 Concrete or asphalt base layer
 Hydraulically bound base layer
 Frost protection layer
 Subsoil

Fig.2.1 The whole structure of ballastless track system[2]

The superstructure of the ballastless track system is composed of

concrete/ asphalt bearing layer, concrete slab track, rail and fastening system.
The rails are rigidly fastened to special types of concrete sleepers that are
themselves set in concrete. The initial construction of the ballastless track was
monolithic and so compact that bigger track position correction was hard and
track renewal almost impossible. That led to development of new types of
ballastless track which had superposed structure and offered more flexible,
maintainable solution.
 Fastening system is another important part of slab track design. It
provide the required elasticity of the system and reduces vibrations from train
loads and furthermore, adjustable fastening system can compensate for errors
in construction and geometry deficiencies which is always a concern in slab
track design. Usually used fasteners are type “300” that offers possibility of
additional positioning and alignment.

The best type of slab track system depends on the given circumstances.
In the variety of the systems the ones with pre-cast slabs or with sleepers fixed
in in-situ concrete, or using individual rail support have prevailed. Other types
have been used in much reduced volumes, or completely abandoned. The
causes of this are not so much the functionality of the structure of the
respective track type, but the speed, price and the quality of the execution.
Many design types that have seemed to offer so much promise from their
basic concept, lost ground because of poor construction quality and the
resulting maintenance costs. In addition, there is still plenty of opportunity for
error at the installation stage of the “established” systems, and this can easily
negate the hoped-for goal of zero maintenance, undermining at the same time
planned beneficial cost projections.

Another important factor for a ballastless track is the type of subsoil.

Each slab track system has different flexural stiffness; therefore the soil
conditions also define the most suitable track type. The use of ballastless track
requires settlement free or low settlement subsoil. Inhomogeneous settlements
of the selected support structure can be balanced only with difficulty or not at
all.
2.3 CLASSIFICATION

Table 2.1 Classification of ballastless track system

Rail supports Fabrication method Examples

With sleepers or blocks encased Rheda, Züblin,
in concrete Sonneville, etc.
Sleepers on top of asphalt ATD, BTD, Walter,
Discrete rail supports concrete road-bed etc.
Prefabricated concrete slabs Shinkansen, Bögl
Monolithic concrete slabs FFC, etc.
Embedded rail structure Edilon, etc.
Continuous rail supports Clamped and continuously Vanguard, Cocon, etc.
supported rail

Some of the systems are explained below:

System Rheda

Rheda is a monolithic system. The concrete trough is first built and

afterwards the rails are mounted and positioned on this concrete trough and
moulded with filling concrete. To overcome the looseness of the rail in
concrete, steel reinforcement is placed in transversal and length direction.
Rheda is made of 2,60 m long mono-block concrete sleepers, causing the total
width of the system of 3,20 m.

Fig.2.2 System Rheda[6]

System Züblin

Züblin system has concrete sleepers that are not moulded but they are
jolted instead. The construction is similar to Rheda, but instead to position the
concrete under and between the positioned rails, in Züblin the sleepers are to
be installed in- situ concrete track slab. Hence the concrete consistence is to
be chosen so that the sleepers do not move, because of their weight, after
being installed.

Fig.2.3 System Züblin[6]

System ATD

Pre-condition for this system is a precisely positioned asphalt boned

layer, ABL. It can be built in mono or bi-block sleeper. A transversal
mounting is connected to the sleepers and provides the track with horizontal
stability.

Fig.2.4 System ATD[6]

System BTD

This system is one of the rare superposed systems done in concrete.

System is built with a hole in the middle, where a bolt will be installed,
connecting the sleeper with the concrete slab.

Fig.2.5 System BTD[6]

System Walter

This is a system with an asphalt base, using the same construction as a

BTD system, for connection between sleeper and track slab.

Fig.2.6 System Walter[6]

System Bögl

The Bogl permanent railway consists of 20 cm thick and 6,45 m long

transverse, prestressed prefabricated slabs of steel fibre concrete B 55, which
is produced in continually high quality at electronically controlled production
facilities to be true to size. The slabs are coupled lengthwise with turnbuckles
and underfilled following adjustment with bitumen cement mortar.

Fig.2.7 Bögl ballastless track in China[6]

System FFC

System FFC is constructed as an infinite monolithic sleeper. Base is a

hydraulic bonded separating layer, on which comes the concrete slab, with
“300” fasteners, serving the possibility of position adjustment.

Fig.2.8 System FFC[6]

2.4 UNDER-BALLAST MAT (UBM)

Under-ballast mat (UBM) is a type of elastic element used as an

essential component in applications such as bridges and tunnels. They have
been growing as a feasible and effective solution to lower the track stiffness
and reduce the ground- borne vibrations. UBMs are used as the isolation layer
of the ballastless track structure to improve the mechanical behaviors and
vibration isolation performances.

At present, the commonly used isolation layers in the CRTS III

ballastless track include the ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM)
isolation layer, geotextile isolation layer and polyethylene film isolation layer.
Rubber UBMs are applied in high-speed railway ballastless tracks as the
isolation layer to improve the operating conditions of high-speed trains. The
deformation capacity and mechanical energy dissipation of the rubber UBM
depend on its thickness and density, as well as on its size and type of material.
Tests show that the rubber UBM has large internal friction, high energy
absorption rate and good damping performance characterized by its large loss
factor. It can also maintain good mechanical performance under repeated
loading.

UBMs are installed underneath the concrete track slab in the case of
ballastless tracks.In CRTS III ballastless track, isolation layer is set between
the composite-slab and the base plate. Besides, as one of the most common
elastic elements in the railway track system, the main functions of the
isolation layer are to control the deformation between the lower structures and
the track slab, facilitate maintenance by serving as an isolation layer between
the track slab and the lower foundation, and reduce vibration and noise.
Elastic UBMs usually have a thickness of 15–30 mm, whereas their horizontal
dimensions depend on the technique developed during construction.
Fig.2.9 The system of CRTS III ballastless track[3
2.5 BALLASTLESS TRACK SUBSTRUCTURE

The ballastless track design requires a foundation which is almost free of

deformation and settlement. The ballastless track must normally be prepared to a
depth of at least 2.5m beneath the slab by using suitable customised, quality-
assured earthwork materials.In cases of low load-bearing, soft or pulpy soil
conditions, special foundation improvement measures are generally necessary to
guarantee stability and usability or for settlement stability.With ballastless tracks
on earthworks, an adequately-sized foundation in the form of a layered package is
now provided for even and long-term low-deformation support for the track
structure, consisting of a hydraulically-bound load-bearing layer or, alternatively,
an asphalt load-bearing layer, a frost-protection layer underneath it and the
bottom load-bearing layer (earth subgrade) with overall proven properties. The
hydraulically-bound load-bearing layer or the asphalt one protects the multi-
layered system with the upper frost-protection layer, by distributing the forces
over a large area before dynamic stresses have their effect. The unbound load-
bearing layer underneath the frost-protection layer consists of scarping, in the
case of specially documented embankments and as a foundation in cuttings, with
equally documented properties, with soil replacement, if necessary.

2.6 COMPARISON BETWEEN BALLASTED AND

BALLASTLESS TRACKS

The salient feature of the ballasted track is its low production cost. The track can
also largely be maintained automatically and during night intervals. The track
geometry can also be easily adjusted. It is a disadvantage that the track geometry
is altered by the passage of the trains and has to be realigned periodically. This
alignment process causes the track to be raised and the rails have to be installed at
a lower height as in the case of a ballastless track. In this context, the term used is
“lifting reserve”. The mechanized steps with heavy track maintenance machines
also cause considerable environmental stresses as a result of noise emissions and
dust formation.Ballastless tracks, which replace the maintenance intensive track
ballast by a fixed design, guarantee a consistently good track geometry, and the
maintenance of the highest standards in travel comfort at greatly-reduced
maintenance expense. Compared to the ballasted design, this design makes it
possible for greater lateral acceleration forces to be supported. The route study
can be more closely focussed and curve speeds increased. In addition, the
standard types of construction for the ballastless track have a lower base height
than the ballasted track. This is of particular advantage in minimising tunnel
cross-sections or for structure clearances in the case of existing tunnel structures.
It is a disadvantage that the updating of an ballastless track cannot be carried out
during night intervals and that the type of construction is generally very sensitive
to differential height alterations of the foundations, in view of the limited
possibilities for adjustment of the rail support points. The initial investments are
higher all-round than for the ballasted track.

2.7ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

2.7.1 ADVANTAGES

 Highly consistent track geometry.

 Low structure height and weight.
 Reduced need for maintenance since tamping is not necessary due
to the absence of ballast and only problems like rail grinding are to
be considered.
 Reduced maintenance costs.
 Long durability and service life (about 50-60yrs).
 Better and controlled drainage.
 Eliminates flying-ballast damage on rolling stock and civil
engineering structures at high speeds.
 Increase in capacity.
 Shallower superstructure.
 Easier to clean when used in stations.
 Reduce dust and beautify the environment.
 Has high train speed and makes passengers feel comfortable.
 Use of eddy-current brake is possible.
 No herbicide plant deduction necessary.
2.7.2 DISADVANTAGES

 High investment costs.

 Impossibility of adjusting or correcting track geometry once concrete
has been set.
 Higher noise emissions.
 Repair work is more complicated.
 High repair costs if there is derailment damage.
 Difficulties at easily settled grounds.
 CHAPTER 3

CASE STUDY

3.1 GANJIANG BRIDGE

Ganjiang Bridge is a high-speed railway long-span cable-stayed bridge

which is designed to lay ballastless tracks. Ballastless track has been widely
used in high- speed railway in China. However, due to the complex
deformation conditions of the long-span cable-stayed bridges and the
difficulty of post-construction adjustment of ballastless tracks, engineering
cases of long-span cable-stayed bridge laying ballastless tracks is not so
prominent in the world.

Ballastless track has the advantages of high durability, stability, and

less maintenance. It has been widely used in high-speed railway in the past
few decades. The train running comfort and durability are more for ballastless
tracks than ballasted tracks. Furtherly, the transitions of ballasted tracks and
ballastless tracks increase the operation and management costs, and affect the
riding comfort of the railway lines. Therefore, laying ballastless tracks on
those long-span cable-stayed bridges in high- speed railway is of great
significance. Correspondingly, plenty of researches and explorations are
needed.

Ganjiang Bridge is located at the upper reaches of Ganjiang River in

Ganzhou city of Jiangxi Province, which is the control project of Nanchang–
Ganzhou high- speed railway. Adopting the scheme of the long-span cable-
stayed bridge, the total length of the main bridge is 570 m, with a span
arrangement of 35 + 40 + 60 + 300 + 60 + 40 + 35 m. Ganjiang Bridge is a
steel-concrete composite girder cable-stayed bridge on which the ballastless
tracks are laid.
 Fig. 3.1 The layout of the Ganjiang Bridge (Units: m)[5]

A series of structural measures have been taken to improve the

feasibility of laying ballastless tracks, including setting auxiliary piers in side-
spans and adopting steel-concrete composite main girder. Ganjiang Bridge has
complex deformation conditions, and it is considered feasible to lay
ballastless tracks compared with those existing long-span cable-stayed
bridges. As the critical structure of Ganjiang Bridge, the new type cable-
girder anchorage structure is safe and reliable by finite element analysis.
Multi-scale FE modeling technique can effectively realize the accurate stress
analysis of the local structures like the cable-girder anchorage region in long-
span cable-stayed bridges. Finally, the construction method of Ganjiang
Bridge was introduced. Ganjiang Bridge was safely erected in September
2018, and the inspection data of the bridge meet the design requirements. It
provides an excellent example for the design and construction of similar high-
speed railway cable-stayed bridges, especially for those bridges designed to
lay ballastless track.

3.1.1 STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF BALLASTLESS TRACK

Based on its better adaptability, the unit ballastless track is designed to

lay on Ganjiang Bridge. The type of the unit ballastless track is CRTS III slab
ballastless track, and the length of a single block is 6 m. In detail, the rail type
is CHN60 (60 kg/m), and the fastener is WJ-7B constant resistance fastener.
The longitudinal center distance between the fasteners is 0.6 m, and the rail
expansion regulator is installed at the end of the main bridge. In particular, in
order to prevent the formation of voids and slits between the layer of the
ballastless tracks, the ethylene propylene diene rubber (EPDM) isolation layer
is set between the self-compacting concrete filling layer and the concrete
basement of the ballastless tracks.

Fig. 3.2: The structure of CRTSIII slab ballastless track[4]

3.1.2 CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE

The main concrete tower of Ganjiang Bridge is constructed by climbing

formwork, then concrete box girder of the side span is poured on the cast-in-
place support. In final, the middle span steel-concrete composite beam is
constructed by the cantilevers. After the construction of the steel-concrete
transition section of the main girder is completed, the first section of the open
steel box is hoisted, the cable of the section is installed and stretched. When
the steel box girder is positioned and fine- tuned, it is fused and welded to the
preceding section of the steel box. After the steel box girder is installed in
place, the prefabricated concrete bridge deck is hoisted and installed on the
steel box girder. At last, the concrete is poured into the joints to form the
steel-concrete composite girder. When the concrete curing is completed, and
the steel-concrete composite beam segments are sequentially constructed in
this order until the bridge is closed.
3.2 BEIJING SHANGHAI HIGH SPEED LINES

The HSR line of Beijing-Shanghai connects two major

economic zones in China, that is, the Bohai Economic Rim and the Yangtze
River Delta. The construction of this line started in April 2008 and began its
operation in June 2011. Its design speed is 380 km/h, whereas the initial
maximum operating speed was 300 km/h; its maximum operating speed
increased to 350 km/h in September 2017.
The HSR line cost 220.9 billion yuan, of which 39.2 billion yuan was
used for purchasing EMUs. The total length of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR line
is 1,318 km, of which 86.5% is composed of bridges (1,060 km) and 1.2% is
composed of tunnels (16 km). The bridge superstructure is mainly composed
of a prestressed concrete full-hole simple box girder, and its lower structure
includes a roundended pier, rectangular pier, and double-column piers. A total
of 1,268 km of ballastless track lies on the whole line, which represents
96.2%, and the remaining 50 km has a ballast track. The Beijing-Shanghai
line, which has 24 stations, traverses Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, and
Jiangsu, as shown in figure S1 in the supporting information available on the
Journal’s website. The main trains that began operating in the line are
CRH2A, CRH380, and CR400.

Fig 3.3 Beijing-Shanghai ballastless track[6]

3.2.1 DATA USED

The data used in this research included sectoral energy consumption, output of
industrial products, carbon emission factors, IO tables, energy and materials
for HSR, material prices, and passenger transport activity. The industrial
sector energy consumptions were from the China Energy Statistics Yearbook
2011. The output of industrial products originated from the China Industrial
Economy Statistical Yearbook 2011; carbon emission factors were from the
National GHG Inventory Guideline (NDRC 2010), and the emission factors
for electricity (2010–2014) were from the National Development and Reform
Commission Department of Climate Change (details can be found in table S1
in the supporting information on the Web); the IO tables used the 2010 IO
extension table of China. The materials and energy for the Beijing-Shanghai
HSR construction were estimated by a demand model on the basis of the
construction standards and HSR construction studies.
The price data came from China Price Yearbook 2011 and Current
Prices of Construction Materials 2012. The materials and energy for
maintenance were from the Beijing Railway Bureau Yearbook. The main
materials and their production departments are summarized in table S2 in the
supporting information on the Web. The passenger transport activity, as
shown in table S3 in the supporting information on the Web, was derived
from the annual report of the China Railway Yearbook and the annual
meeting of the 11th Rail Transportation Development Research Association in
2014 (Cai 2014).
 CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION

There have been a number of track designs developed in recent years.

Among those, ballastless track is the most widely used track system. Initially
the aspects of construction works and the safe transport were considered a
priority, bringing the importance of maintenance to a secondary role, but
nowadays the economical, safety and environmental protection factors are
taken into account for the whole life cycle of the structures.

The classical superstructures have a significant disadvantage when it

comes to economy and safety. Economic conditions include the developments
of the construction and maintenance cost, so the railway companies undertake
even the higher construction costs, if the maintenance costs will substantially
reduce over the serviceability life time. Although it is proved that ballastless
track is almost maintenance free in most cases, greater construction costs
compared to ballasted track make it uneconomical in many situations. As a
result, in many countries, ballastless tracks are limited to tunnels, bridges and
special track works. In terms of safety conditions near the track, the vehicles
and the traffic system also have an important role. Ballastless tracks solve the
problem of flying ballast that can lead to damages to rolling stock and to
running surface of the rail. The track geometry stability required for the use of
eddy-current brakes is also provided. The third condition is related to
environmental protection. It has become obvious that this system is able to
operate in the most environment friendly way due to the reduced release of
dust particles. It is also important to resolve the noise and vibration impact.
Initially, in this aspect, the ballastless track structures had a great
disadvantage compared to the ballasted track system, but due to the
modernizations with the rail fastening systems, engineers have already created
satisfactory vibration and noise absorbing structures.

It can be concluded that many economical, safety and environmental

conditions have to be taken into account at the selection of the superstructure
type. Ballasted rail tracks still remain in the field of application despite the
advantages ensured by the concrete slab tracks, but they lost their exclusivity
in the rail track design. It can be remarked that in comparison with the
ballasted track, the design of ballastless track system is an alternative solution,
but when special loads have to be considered only the ballastless system
proves to be appropriate. Railway has existed throughout the centuries, but the
progress made in last 40 years, new systems and ideas being developed, new
speed records being set show an increasing importance, potential and a
promising, bright, new era of the railways.
 REFERENCES

1. Amir Kamyab Moghaddam (2017): “Recent developments of

ballastless tracks in high-speed and urban lines”, International Journal
of Research and Engineering, Vol. 04 No. 04.
2. Szabolcs Attila Köllő et. al (2015): “Comparison of ballasted and slab
track”,
Research Gate.
3. Xing-Wang Sheng et. al (2020): “Properties of rubber under-ballast
mat used as ballastless track isolation layer in high-speed railway”,
Construction and Building Materials.
4. Xingwang Sheng et. al (2019): “Mechanical Behaviors and Fatigue
Performances of Ballastless Tracks Laid on Long-Span Cable-Stayed
Bridges with Different Arrangements”, Sensors.
5. Xingwang Sheng et. al (2019): “Ganjiang Bridge: A High-Speed
Railway Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge Laying Ballastless Tracks”,
Taylor & Francis.
6. Dr S Ponnuswamy: Ballasless track for Urban transit lines
7. J. S Mundrey: Railway Track Engineering
8. www.google.com