Railway track with ballast composite

Abstract: The need to reduce railway track maintenance costs encourages the search for solutions that allow for extending the intervals between repairs. The results of tests on track structures with a ballast layer reinforced with geogrids and stabilized with resin are presented. The technology for laying several variants of the new track structure on a section of the Central Rail Line is discussed, and the results of the track condition assessment on experimental sections after the initial period of operation are presented.1. ANALYSIS OF POSSIBILITIES TO INCREASE THE STRENGTH OF THE RAILWAY TRACK STRUCTURE AGAINST PERMANENT DEFORMATION
Development plans in Poland include the construction of new high-speed lines. The question arises whether the use of a classic railway track with ballast at high speeds is a rational solution.
French railways continue to build high-speed lines with classic ballast track. German experience indicates a significant increase in the maintenance costs of high-speed lines and they are beginning to use unconventional solutions on an operational scale [1], [2], [6],[20].
Classic railway tracks consist of a track grid made of rails and sleepers embedded in a layer of ballast lying on the subgrade and operate under operational load in an elastic-plastic state. Modern technological and material achievements ensure that the subgrade operates in an elastic state under operational load [2], [12], [18]. Rails and sleepers operate under operational load in an elastic state. The weakest element of the classic railway track structure is therefore the mechanically compacted ballast layer. Dozens of research works have been carried out regarding the quality, type, and grain composition of ballast [8], [14]. Dozens of works have also been carried out regarding the method of mechanical compaction [2], [14]. Consequently, there is a need for systematic and frequent repairs to remove the resulting unacceptable geometric irregularities of the track, because tensile stress states occur in the ballast, which disturb the existing balance based on the principles of internal friction forces, de-consolidating the ballast. Therefore, ballast settlement (plastic deformation) is inevitable. (…)

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