Engineering Commons^™

Assessment Of Ballast Fouling And Its Implications On Track Drainage, Nayoma Tennakoon, Buddhima Indraratna, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn, Sanjay Nimbalkar

Buddhima Indraratna

Australian railways offer an efficient and economic mode for transporting freight and passengers across all States. Conventionally, rail tracks are positioned on ballast for reasons including economy (availability and abundance), rapid drainage, and high load bearing capacity. However, the ballast becomes fouled due to the intrusion of fines either from the subgrade or surface which impairs track drainage. In order to maintain serviceability, it is necessary to maintain adequate drainage capacity in the track. To identify the risk associated with fouling, it is important to understand the effects of the amount of fouling on drainage conditions. In this present study …