This work presents results of experiments carried out to investigate the potential application of two techniques of railway track adjustment: “stoneblowing” (SB), where ballast stones are injected into gaps in the ballast bed beneath sleepers, and “under sleeper pads” (USPs), where special pads are placed between the sleepers and the ballast. It was reported that they can potentially result in improved track quality compared to traditional methods, such as tamping (TM). Despite potential benefits, these two techniques have found so far quite limited application. In order to understand performance of a surfaced railway ballast and develop maintenance procedures we conducted series of experiments at the Railway Experimental Ring in Scherbinka, Russia. It was demonstrated that railway track, adjusted by SB and by USPs showed better track stability in vertical plane in comparison to track adjusted by TM. We also showed that application of SB resulted in higher values of resistance to lateral displacement of railway track in the area of rail joint, compared to TM. Moreover, railway tracks adjusted by SB and USP techniques were proved to show good results under high load, thus, have potential application for heavy-load railways.

stoneblowing, under sleeper pads, ballasted railway track, track maintenance