Engineering researchers are investigating how ballast fouling affects track stability. The project affiliated with the Cooperative Research Centre for Rail Innovation aims to improve track design and maintenance guidelines. According to the project's leader Dr Buddhima Indraratna - who heads the School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wollongong - ballast fouling is a serious problem. It can be caused by coal falling out of wagons or heavy loads crushing the ballast. Trains travelling at high speeds can also liquefy the soil under the ballast, pumping it upwards, particularly in low-lying, wet areas. There are no track design methods anywhere in the world that adequately take ballast fouling into account, Indraratna said.
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