Ballast inspection

To provide the railway track superstructure with the ideal characteristics of stability, elasticity, drainage and durability, it is essential in construction, maintenance or renovation works to use a homogeneous ballast of adequate quality.

The ballast, as a step between the sleepers and the railway grading or platform, performs important functions. The ballast distributes the loads transmitted by the trains evenly on the platform and ensures the fixed and immovable position of the sleepers. In order to resist these dynamic stresses, the ballast bed must be very elastic. Its proper functioning depends on the height of the ballast layer, its granulometry and the degree of contamination.

However, over the years, the ballast becomes contaminated for various reasons, losing effectiveness and even ceasing to fulfill the required functions, either due to loss of the edges of the stones or ballast particles or due to a high penetration of fines, until it is necessary to treat or renew the ballast.