Presented by C.

KEVIN
JOSEPH B.Tech (CIVIL) III YEAR

Defined below is a set of terms, as those used in relation in to ballast and formation.
1. Ballast : It is a high quality crushed stone with desired specications placed immediately beneath the sleeper. 2. Ballast section : A section of the ballast taken perpendicularly across the track in between the sleepers brings out the ballast section. 3. Ballast prole : The diagram indicating the ballast position with respect to the formation and the track component is called the ballast prole.

 4. Ballast cushion : The depth of ballast below le bottom of the sleeper, normally measured under the rail seat, is termed as the ballast cushion . 5. Cess: It is that part of the formation which lies between the toe of the ballast and the edge of the formation. 6. Crib ballast: Ballast provided in between sleepers, i.e. in the sleeper cribs. Is called crib ballast. 7. Formation: It is the surface on which the ballast is laid. It is also known as the roadbed. 8. Formation level : It is the level of the prepared surface on its Centre line, including the blanketing material, if any.

 9. Formation width: It is the distance between the edges of the prepared surface.
10. Shoulder ballast: Ballast provided beyond the sleeper edge is called the shoulder ballast. The distance by which the ballast top line projects beyond the edge of the sleeper is called the shoulder width of ballast.

11. Side slope : It is the inclined surface of an embankment on cutting. 12. Side slope of ballast: The slope at which the ballast top line at the shoulders meets the formation line is termed as side slope of the ballast. It is usually kept as 1.5 :1.

 13. Subgrade: It is the part of embankment cutting, on which track and its foundations are supported; it and is made of the same material as that of the embankment or the sub soil in cutting. 14. Subsoil: It is the soil immediately under the natural ground level.

15. Track foundation: The blanket and other constituents placed between track structure and the subgrade to avoid failure of subgrade below, constitute the track foundation.

 Granular material of specified properties placed on the formation to provide vertical and lateral support to the sleepers or bearers.

 -Track ballast forms the track bed upon which railway sleepers are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track structure,

It is typically made of crushed stone, although ballast has

sometimes consisted of other, less suitable materials.

 Carries the load and distributes it safely on the formation. Provides a firm,level and reselient bed for the sleeper.

Facilitates easy drainage.

Fills inequalities on the formation. Provides lateral and longitudinal stability to the track.

 Protects formation against rain and wind. Protects the sleepers from capillary moisture of formation. Does not allow free vegetation growth. Provides a medium for energy absorption of all impact forces coming from rolling stock by undergoing a temporary change in its contact relationship.

 The specification for ballast for use in the installation and maintenance given by :

material
shape flakiness index elongation index grading aggregate crushing value

 The standard depth of ballast for trunk route is

Broad Gauge -------------- 25 cm

Meter Gauge ------------- 20 cm Railway maintains periodical screening and packing of ballast. Currently, high-tech Ballast Regulating Machines are employed for the purpose supplanting the human agency. The depth of ballast under the ties has been increased in recent years to accommodate increasingly heavy trains.

 On some lines this layer is now laid 60.9 cm or even 76.2 cm. thick

 General 1. Basic Quality: Ballast should be hard, durable and as far as possible angular along edges/corners, free from weathered portions of parent rock, organic impurities and inorganic residues. 2. Particle shape: It should be cubical in shape as far as possible. Individual pieces should not be akey and have generally at faces with not more than two rounded / subrounded faces.

 3. Mode of Manufacture: To ensure uniformity machine crushed ballast should be preferred for Broad gauge and Meter gauge routes. Hand broken ballast shall be used only with the prior personal approval of a Chief Engineer.

 .Physical Properties
Ballast sample should satisfy the following physical properties in accordance -with IS:23-86 Pt. IV 1963 Aggregate Abrasion value - 30 % Max. Aggregate Impact Value - 20 % Max. The shape parameter Flakiness Index as determined in accordance with IS :2386 Pt. I - 1963 The water absorption tested as per IS : 2386 Pt. III-1963 should not be more than 1% Size and Gradation

 Ballast should conform to the following size and gradation l. Retained on 65 mm sq. mesh sieve - Nil. 2. Retained on 40 mm sq. mesh sieve - 40 % to 60% 3. Retained on 20 mm sq.mesh sieve - not less than 98% for machine crushed. Not less than 95% for hand broken.

 Oversize Ballast: If the ballast retained on 65 mm square mesh sieve is at variance from the above stipulation, the stack shall be rejected.
Also, if the ballast retained on 40 mm square mesh sieve exceeds 60 % limit prescribed in 2 above, payment at following reduced rates shall be made for the full stack: (a) 95 % of quoted rates if retention on 40 mm sq, mesh sieve is between 50 % (excluding) and 65 % (including).

(b) 90 % of quoted rate s if retention on 40 mm sq, mesh sieve is between 65 %(excluding) and 70 % (including). If retention on 40 mm sq. mesh sieve exceeds 70 %, the stack shall be rejected

 A good ballast should be strong, hard-wearing, stable, drainable, easy to clean, workable, resistant to deformation, easily available, and reasonably cheap to purchase. Good quality track ballast is made of crushed natural rock with particles between 28 mm and 50 mm in diameter; a high proportion of particles finer than this will reduce its drainage properties, and a high proportion of larger particles result in the load on the ties being distributed improperly. Angular stones are preferable to naturally rounded ones, as angular stones interlock with each other, inhibiting

 Soft materials such as limestone are not particularly suitable, as they tend to degrade under load when wet, causing deterioration of the line; granite, although expensive, is one of the best materials in this regard.

 The thickness of a layer of track ballast depends on the size and spacing of the ties, the amount of traffic expected on the line, and various other factors. Track ballast should never be laid down less than 150 mm (6 inches) thick; high-speed railway lines may require ballast up to half a metre (20 inches) thick. An insufficient depth of ballast overloads the underlying soil; in the worst cases, this can cause the track to sink.

 If the ballast is less than 300 mm (12 inches) thick, this can lead to vibrations, which can damage nearby structures (though increasing the depth beyond this has no measurable effect).
Track ballast typically sits on a layer of sub-ballast; the latter is typically made of small crushed stones. It gives a solid support for the top ballast, and seals out water from the underlying ground. Sometimes, an elastic mat is placed under the ballast layer as well; this can allow for significant reductions in vibration.

 It is essential for ballast to be piled as high as the ties, and for a substantial "shoulder" to be placed at their ends;[the latter being especially important, since this ballast shoulder is, for the most part, the only thing restraining lateral movement of the track. The ballast shoulder should be at least 150 mm (6 inches) wide under any circumstances, and may be as large as 450 mm (18 inches).

 If ballast is badly fouled, the clogging will reduce its ability to drain properly; this, in turn, causes more debris to be sucked up from the sub-ballast, causing more fouling. Therefore, keeping the ballast clean is essential. Bioremediation can be used to clean ballast. Removing and cleaning the ballast from the shoulder is often sufficient, if shoulder ballast is removed to the correct depth

 . The shoulder acquires some amount of stability over time, being compacted by traffic; maintenance tasks such as replacing ties, tamping, and ballast cleaning can upset this stability. After performing these tasks, it is necessary for either trains to run at reduced speed on the repaired routes, or to employ machinery to compact the shoulder again. If the track bed becomes uneven, it is necessary to pack ballast underneath sunk ties to level the track out again. This is, in the mechanized age, usually done by a ballast tamping machine.

 From the late 1960s onwards, German, British, Swiss and Japanese railroads experimented with alternatives to the traditional railway tie in search of solutions with higher accuracy and longevity, and lowered maintenance costs. This gave rise to the ballastless railway track, especially in tunnels, high-speed rail lines and on lines with high train frequency, which have high stress imposed on trackage.
Paved concrete track has the rail fastened directly to a concrete slab, about half a meter thick, without ties. A similar but less expensive alternative is to accurately position concrete ties and then pour a concrete slab between and around them; this method is called "cast-in precast sleeper track".

 These systems offer the advantage of superior stability and almost complete absence of deformation. Ballastless track systems incur significantly lower maintenance costs compared to ballasted track. Due to the absence of any ballast, damage by flying ballast is eliminated, something that occurs at speeds in excess of 250 km/h (150 mph).

Building a slab track is more expensive than building traditional ballasted track, which has slowed its introduction outside of high-speed rail lines.

 But the curing time of the concrete makes it difficult to convert an existing, busy railway line to a ballastless setup. Slab track can also be significantly louder and cause more vibration than traditional ballasted track. Where it is critical to reduce noise and vibration, the concrete slab can be supported upon soft resilient bearings. This configuration, called "floating slab track". Alternatively, the rail can be supported along its length by an elastic material; when combined with a smaller rail section, this can provide a significant noise reduction over traditional ballasted track.

 A ballast tamper or tamping machine is a machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks more durable. Prior to the introduction of mechanical tampers, this task was done by manual labour with the help of beaters.

 Tamper-liner or tamping and lining machine, also correct the alignment of the rails to make them parallel and level, in order to achieve a more comfortable ride for passengers and freight and to reduce the mechanical strain applied to the rails by passing trains.

 Packing of ballast under sleepers Correction of cross level.

Correction of Longitudinal Level

Driving
Run Drive Work Drive

 Special Functions
Twist Corrections Track Settlement Laser Lining Automatic Data Feeding by Computer Recording of Track Parameter

There are two types based on their purpose.

Tamping machines Non-tamping machines

 Straight track tamping machines:

Universal tamping machines (U.T.) Unomatic Duomatic Continuous action tamping machines (C.S.M.) Tamping Express

Points and crossing tamping machines (UNIMAT ) Multi-purpose tamping machines (M.P.T.)

DTS (DGS), Dynamic Track Stabilizing Machine Points And Crossing Relaying Machine (P&C T-28) Track Relaying Train (T.R.T.) Straight Track Laying Machines (P.Q.R.S.)

 This type of straight-track tamping machine is the oldest of the varieties. It uses a two-chord lining system for alignment of track (for slewing the track to left or right, as-and-when required). This type of lining is controlled mechanically. The machine has four bogies, one at the front, one at the rear, a third in the centre and a fourth in between the centre and the rear. They are called: front-tightening, rear-tightening, lining bogie and measuring bogie, respectively.

 The measuring bogie determines the amount of slewing required and measures the subsequent adjustments applied by the lining bogie. The lining bogie also lifts the track to make it level. The tamping bank behind the lining bogie has a vibrating motor and four arms for each rail. A tamping cycle comprises three operations: 1. Penetration the arms are pushed down vertically into the ballast either side of a sleeper. 2. squeezing the arms squeeze the ballast under the sleeper, packing it together. 3. Moving the arms are lifted and the machine is moved to the next sleeper to repeat the cycle.

 BCM Ballast cleaning and recycling train "K2" of the Hellenic Railways Organisation. A Ballast Cleaning Machine (BCM) carries-out deep screening of ballast, which is an important maintenance activity to improve drainage and the resilience of the track. The cutter blades of the BCM dig out ballast from under and around the sleepers, and a conveyor belt transfers it to the on-board cleaning equipment where the ballast is passed over screens which remove fine debris.

 The clean screened ballast is returned to the track and the fine screened residue is ejected to one side, usually into a hopper wagon on an adjacent track. A BCM can deep-screen 650 cubic metres of ballast per hour of working, and proceed at up to two miles an hour, but must be followed by a tamper/liner to restore the correct track geometry.

 A DTS will normally be used only after a stretch of track has been tamped and aligned. D.G.S. has a vibrating unit which holds the track in position and applies a vertical vibration to simulate the passage of trains. The track parameters (or cross levels), before and after stabilising, can be viewed through bogies in the front and rear.

 Dynamic Track Stabilizing has the following advantages, resulting in enhanced safety:
1.Increases the resistance of the track to lateral movement. 2.Creates a homegenous bed of ballast. 3.Permits earlier relaxation of speed restrictions. 4.Eliminates non-uniform initial differential settlements caused by rail traffic. 5.Retains correct track geometry for a longer period than was achievable using tamping machines alone. 6.Vibration frequency: 3035 Hz 7.Working speed: 12 km/h 8.Vertical pressure applied: 100 kg/cm