Abstract
Abstract A more durable rail track structure is fundamental in the railway industry, allowing the government to operate the train with higher speed and axle load. That means more passengers and better quality of railroads travel, thereby reducing the maintenance costs and ensuring passengers’ comfort and safety. The effect of a sub-ballast and asphalt layer thickness and freight train traffic with low operational speed on mechanical behavior and design life of conventional track and asphaltic underlayment track, are presented in this paper. One of the significant findings to emerge from this study is that an AC layer with minimum thickness of 0.20 m is required in the asphalt underlayment track application for Indonesian railway infrastructure to facilitate Babaranjang freight trains with up to 50% more tonnage. The evidence from this study also suggests that the asphalt underlayment track with 0.20 m thick of AC layer that contains grade PG70-28 binder could be beneficial to be applied in Indonesian railway system so that the rail track could be constructed with less volume of works than the regular Indonesia's conventional track with 0.40 m of sub-ballast layer.
Highlights
Service life means the period of a rail track design used in service
The evidence from this study suggests that the asphalt underlayment track with 0.20 m thick of AC layer that contains grade PG70-28 binder could be beneficial to be applied in Indonesian railway system so that the rail track could be constructed with less volume of works than the regular Indonesia’s conventional track with 0.40 m of sub-ballast layer
It is apparent from this table that though the sub-ballast layer in conventional tracks is twice thicker than the AC layer with PG70-28 in asphaltic underlayment track, the compressive stress on top of the subgrade in the asphaltic underlayment track is still slightly lower than that of in the conventional track for all thickness variation
Summary
It is known that the ballast structure layer may encounter a decline in mechanical and geometrical performances caused by heavy train loads and environment [1, 2]. Poor ballast and sub-ballast material conditions can be a benchmark for the needs of maintenance work, the determination of track quality index [3], as well as the application of train speed restrictions [4]. According to Duong et al [5], the mud pumping has been known to be the worst degradation phenomenon for the railway sub-structure, which is characterized by the fast upward migration of sub-soil fine particles through the ballast voids. Ballast material deficiency always occurs in the transition due to soil subsidence and rainwater erosion
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