Month: February 2026

My book on railway ballast (post 3) 2026-2-2.

In my previous post I indicated that the functions of the railway ballast were defined more than 30 years ago. By this I was referring to the work of the ERRI D-182 when a large number of European railway companies drafted the functions in this working group.

These functions, in a nutshell, are: longitudinal and transverse stability, drainage, elastic support, transferring and spreading loads to the subsurface, dampening noise and enabling easy maintenance of track geometry.

But how do these functions compare to the past and more important to the present? Are they still valid and complete? Do these functions determine all the requirements we place on railway ballast? What do you think about this? I go into this in more detail in my book.

At the moment I am struggling with the chapter “the history of the railway”. There is so much literature available where these regularly contradict each other. I have therefore decided to consult a number of books and use a chronological timeline based on that. For railway ballast it is not important who “invented” the standard gauge, or the wheel flange, or even the “first” railway, but it is interesting reading!

#Railway ballast #Aggregates #Quarries #Rail #Railinfrastructure #Railprofessionals

My book railway ballast (post 2) 2026-1-20.

As promised in my first post, I’ll now provide an insight into the topics covered in my book on railway ballast. Why railway ballast still deserves serious attention. Railway ballast is often seen as “just stones”, but in reality, it is one of the most underestimated components of the railway system. Naturally, I’ll include a bit of history about the origins of the railway and then delve more deeply into the development of the ballast bed. I’ll also discuss in some detail the work of the ORE D-182/ERRI-D-182 (of which I was a member), a working group under the umbrella of the UIC that aimed to establish uniform delivery conditions for railway ballast. Although this work was carried out in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, it was essential for the development of the EN 13450 Railway Ballast from 2002 (still the current version) because it provided the input for this standard. I also served on this CEN working group, but the main difference from ERRI was that now not only the railway companies (users) were represented, but also the industry (producers), initially evenly divided among seven people per group. It’s clear that economic interests played a role in this from country to country. However, this wasn’t the case in the Netherlands, as we didn’t have any quarries that produced railway ballast, only a gravel pit in Linne. This concludes the history of the development of the current EN 13450, but we’re not there yet. What isn’t addressed in these working groups is the problem of dust. My book delves into this in depth, as it dominated my work at ProRail for the past five years. I promise you surprising outcomes and decisions. Of course, attention is also paid to the bonding (gluing) of railway ballast in one form or another. “Olivine,” a mineral that can bind CO2 under certain conditions, is also discussed, but is it actually suitable for railway ballast or related products? In my next post (nr 3) I will give more insight into the functions of the ballast bed which basically were defined more than 30 years ago and whether they are still valid.

What are your thoughts about the railway ballast in the picture? Any clues?

#Railway ballast #Aggregates #Quarries #Rail #Railinfrastructure