ballast cleaning
The ballast cleaning process is to
sieve or totally remove the gravel
ballast, which may have lost the
proper solidity and elasticity.

• Sieving with partial export of gravel:
It consists of existing sieving gravel with the addition of the new one, it is capable of separating the gravel from both of soils and rubbles which have non-regular size.
• Sieving with total exports of gravel:
It is possible to export the complete rail ballast, which is totally degraded as size and shape, leaving the track entirely without support from the ground up and suspended waiting the new gravel.
The ballast cleaning and consolidation is carried out with the ballast cleaning machine, during the interruption of passenger trains or freight movement. The staff employed for this work is about 15 skilled workers.
The ballast cleaning process begins with an excavation located at the point where the ballast cleaning machine must start. Before the arrival of the train on work, it makes an excavation on both sides of the railway has made before the arrival of the ballast cleaning on the work. This excavation below the track allows the insertion of a key element of the machine: the excavating chain. Stones reject by the chain will be direct through conveyor belts.
As the task of renewal it also involves the use of other rehabilitation equipment such as locomotives, tamping, and profiling machines equipped with conveyor belts.


