HIGHER STANDARDS FOR TRACK BALLAST

Selection of ballast materials for individual applications is of considerable financial importance. The aggregate must be rough enough to resist fracturing under impact and hard enough to resist attrition through wear at contact surfaces. It must also be dense enough to resist lateral forces, properly anchoring the ties. Weathering and freezing must also be considered. The author suggests a visual rock analysis as a means of appraising aggregates. Tests that assess the effect of weathering are also available. Canadian Pacific's 1984 ballast specifications spell out different characteristics for mainline and branch-line applications with the details discussed. While it is concluded that evaluation of ballast requires a 2-stage process-first, aggregate selection and then a monitoring of the processed material, only aggregate selection is discussed in this article.

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  • Accession Number: 00399821
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Sep 30 1985 12:00AM