Experimental and theoretical evaluation of side tamping method for ballasted railway track maintenance

Abstract

Ballast layer is the most weak element of railway track that causes track geometry deterioration. At the same time, it is subjected to intensive particle breakage during the corrective tamping. This causes high maintenance costs of ballasted track. The present paper is devoted to the study of tamping methods. The present machine tamping methods are considered and compared. The possible influence of the tamping technology on the ballast-related maintenance costs is analyzed. The side tamping technology is studied in detail with theoretical and experimental methods. The process of material transport during the side tamping is studied using a scale model of ballast layer and photogrammetric measurements. A theoretical finite element model (FEM) is validated to the experimental results. The study shows that the side tamping is a promising method for the development of a universal, superstructure independent tamping technology.