Increasing the confinement in railway track ballast layers

Insufficient effective confining pressure within the ballast layer can lead to the permanent rotation of grains, causing increased wear and abrasion. Augmenting confinement may not only mitigate ballast degradation but also enhance the overall performance of the track. The increased confining pressure causes the increase of ballasted track stiffness and reduction of resilient and permanent deformation. This paper outlines developing a cost-effective ballast wall arrangement (BWA) to boost ballast layer confinement without disrupting maintenance procedures. It involves incorporating specific secondary raw material elements along the track shoulder, combined with a horizontal geosynthetic reinforcing layer at the base of the ballast layer. These shoulder elements not only impact the track's geometry but also facilitate a reduction in required ballast volume. The efficacy of the ballast confinement mechanism has undergone small-scale testing to prove the concept of reinforcement. Numerical modeling has been developed, which plays a crucial role in supporting the optimal design of this solution.