TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparative study of new ballast and recycled ballast generated from various maintenance activities
AU - Tutumluer, Erol
AU - Wang, Han
AU - Husain, Syed Faizan
AU - Kong, Taeyun
AU - Kim, Youngdae
AU - Ding, Kelin
AU - Qamhia, Issam I.A.
AU - Wilk, Stephen
AU - Li, Dingqing
N1 - The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) under Strategic Research Initiatives (SRI) Program. Special thanks to Steve Bosela with Norfolk Southern Railway for providing the field ballast samples. The contents of this paper reflect the views of the authors who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented. This paper does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.
This paper is based on a research study conducted at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in partnership with MxV Rail and supported by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) under Strategic Research Initiatives (SRI) Program.
PY - 2025/6
Y1 - 2025/6
N2 - Railroad ballast performance is influenced by aggregate type, geological origin and mineralogy, gradation, and particle shape. As ballast ages, it gets progressively fouled with finer materials generated from particle breakage and abrasion, which may reduce its ability to drain water, cause rapid and excessive settlement, and reduce lateral stability. Maintenance operations including tamping, cleaning and removal, and undercutting are scheduled based on degradation level to improve ballast condition and mitigate related track geometry defects. In this study, ballast materials were studied both as fresh clean ballast and at different degradation levels with recycled ballast collected from revenue service sites after maintenance activities. (1) new or clean ballast, (2) fouled or used, (3) screened recycled (fouled ballast disregarding materials passing the 3/8-in. or 9.5 mm sieve), and (4) a blend of 30 % screened recycled and 70 % clean ballast were evaluated. Various characterization tests were conducted including morphological characterization, mechanical breakdown and degradation performance, drainage property, long-term settlement potential, local shear waves or modulus, and load bearing and lateral stability. Additionally, a 50 % screened recycled and 50 % clean ballast samples were evaluated in terms of lateral stability to investigate performance with greater portion of rounded particles. Results showed that although removing fines from fouled ballast can maintain long-term settlement performance, the lateral stability will decrease. Nevertheless, reusing up to 30 % of screened recycled ballast materials can maintain settlement and lateral stability performance. The results provide guidance about performance trends of reclaimed ballast after different maintenance activities with the overall goal to maintain a safe and reliable ballasted rail network operation. Future research should focus on evaluating mechanical behavior trends of recycled ballast and its blends with virgin material at varying moisture levels.
AB - Railroad ballast performance is influenced by aggregate type, geological origin and mineralogy, gradation, and particle shape. As ballast ages, it gets progressively fouled with finer materials generated from particle breakage and abrasion, which may reduce its ability to drain water, cause rapid and excessive settlement, and reduce lateral stability. Maintenance operations including tamping, cleaning and removal, and undercutting are scheduled based on degradation level to improve ballast condition and mitigate related track geometry defects. In this study, ballast materials were studied both as fresh clean ballast and at different degradation levels with recycled ballast collected from revenue service sites after maintenance activities. (1) new or clean ballast, (2) fouled or used, (3) screened recycled (fouled ballast disregarding materials passing the 3/8-in. or 9.5 mm sieve), and (4) a blend of 30 % screened recycled and 70 % clean ballast were evaluated. Various characterization tests were conducted including morphological characterization, mechanical breakdown and degradation performance, drainage property, long-term settlement potential, local shear waves or modulus, and load bearing and lateral stability. Additionally, a 50 % screened recycled and 50 % clean ballast samples were evaluated in terms of lateral stability to investigate performance with greater portion of rounded particles. Results showed that although removing fines from fouled ballast can maintain long-term settlement performance, the lateral stability will decrease. Nevertheless, reusing up to 30 % of screened recycled ballast materials can maintain settlement and lateral stability performance. The results provide guidance about performance trends of reclaimed ballast after different maintenance activities with the overall goal to maintain a safe and reliable ballasted rail network operation. Future research should focus on evaluating mechanical behavior trends of recycled ballast and its blends with virgin material at varying moisture levels.
KW - Ballast
KW - Ballast Maintenance
KW - Lateral Stability
KW - Recycled Ballast
KW - Settlement
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U2 - 10.1016/j.treng.2025.100321
DO - 10.1016/j.treng.2025.100321
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105000207325
SN - 2666-691X
VL - 20
JO - Transportation Engineering
JF - Transportation Engineering
M1 - 100321
ER -