Railways need a high-performing infrastructure to achieve revenue and growth. A solid foundation across the entire system is crucial for track performance and operational effectiveness. This requires strategic solutions for proper ballast maintenance and reliable drainage.
With a rich heritage in maintaining infrastructure integrity and optimising track performance, Loram is the recognised industry leader in track maintenance. We partner with railways to deliver innovative, data-driven solutions that not only address immediate needs but also provide long-term resilience, ensuring your network operates at its peak, safely and efficiently.
Shoulder Ballast Cleaning: Enhancing Rail Infrastructure Performance
Loram provides the industry's most advanced and productive shoulder ballast cleaning services, equipment, and technologies, leading to increased efficiency and reduced costs for railways. Our programmes ensure a robust infrastructure that delivers maximum return on investment.
Shoulder ballast cleaning involves removing, screening, and restoring ballast at the end of the sleepers, discarding fine and fouling materials. Integrated scarifiers break open mud pockets, remove fines, and restore ballast voids, crucially releasing trapped water. By consistently excavating up to eight inches below the sleepers and restoring the shoulder structure, obstructing fines can migrate and drain freely, significantly improving drainage and seepage time.
Shoulder Ballast Cleaning Benefits and Features
A regular discipline of shoulder ballast cleaning with Loram prolongs ballast life, reducing the frequency and cost of re-ballasting.
The benefits of shoulder ballast cleaning include:
- Improved drainage that extends surfacing and undercutting cycles and reduces tamping needs up to 200%;
- Enhanced lateral resiliency and stiffness of track between 10–30%;
- Improved track quality index by 35%;
- Better track geometry under the freeze/thaw cycle;
- Inhibited vegetation growth, reducing the need for herbicide applications;
- Typically, no train speed restrictions following completed work.
