Swietelsky Rail Australia (SRA) recently completed over 8.5 kilometres (km) of critical ballast cleaning near Singleton and Narrabri, New South Wales.
These projects were undertaken in the May and August 2024 major closedowns, in coordination with over 1,000 other planned maintenance activities completed throughout the Hunter Valley region as part of ongoing program of work for Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC).
Ballast cleaning is a crucial maintenance process for railways, essential for maintaining safe and efficient transportation lines that serve our communities. Over time, ballast can become fouled due to deterioration and the accumulation of debris, fine particles, and other contaminants. This fouling reduces the effectiveness of the ballast in draining water and maintaining track stability, leading to track deformation, poor ride quality, and increased maintenance costs.
Effective ballast cleaning successfully improves track performance and extends the life of the network asset. Ballast is excavated from track sections using a rail bound mechanised ballast cleaning machine which screens all excavated material, returning suitably sized ballast to the track through a unique conveyor system.
Track sections are topped up with new ballast and tamped, resulting in a free draining, stable ballast profile under the track supporting optimised track performance. Screened spoil material can is either stockpiled for recycling or reused within the rail corridor.
H2: High Output ballast cleaning
The Narrabri project involved a 72-hour major possession, SRA’s extensive mechanised maintenance fleet, and a team of over 40 project staff working around the clock.
The team successfully delivered over 5.5km of cleaning scope averaging between 50–75 per cent ballast return, installed over 9,600 tonnes of new ballast, over 6km of spoil management and track drainage, and over 19.4km of track tamped and dynamic stabilised.
These conditions are where the high output ballast cleaning machine is most effective, ensuring network performance is improved and extending asset life.
The SRA team demonstrated their ability to actively engage and work with the client across the planning, preparation and delivery phases of the project, adding additional drainage and civil works during the closedown to ensure all aspects of the rail corridor were improved according to SRA’s project manager for ballast cleaning Greg Buckley.
“At SRA we cover every aspect of the ballast cleaning project. Our sites have four workgroups including the ballast cleaner, resurfacing, ballast train and off-track civil works – all interacting seamlessly with each other to deliver our project,” Greg Buckley,” he said.
“Our success is attributed to the experience and capability within the team and the way we work together with our client to deliver the project.”
H2: Ballast Cleaning for Reactive Maintenance
The Singleton project involved a 72-hour major possession to complete ballast cleaning. The project site contained a significant amount of full excavation and complete ballast replacement in a heavily constrained environmental area. The success of this project required the development and execution of complex spoil management plans and track reinstatement activities. The team successfully delivered a large target given these circumstances, with 3km of ballast cleaning scope completed without compromising on quality or safety.
The SRA team maximised the use of their specialised MFC 45 material handling wagons to effectively manage environmental impacts, ensuring minimal disruption to the surrounding ecosystem.
The MFC 45 are single line material handling wagons, specially built and designed for use by SRA. The material conveyor and hopper units serve both to supply material and to transport the excavated material away without using the adjacent track.
The excavated material can be unloaded to temporary storage sites or onto wagons/trucks via swivelling conveyor belts fitted to each wagon.
“This project’s success was attributed to the ability to remove extensive ballast fouling throughout the site, resulting in a refreshed track, complete with dynamic stabilisation, while adhering to strict quality compliance,” Buckley said.
H2: Ballast Cleaning Specialists
SRA has demonstrated its capability to deliver all aspects of ballast cleaning operations, from site investigation and detailed planning to drainage works, cleaning, spoil handling, ballast reinstatement, and resurfacing Buckley explained. Worksites require meticulous planning, as they vary in accessibility, extent of ballast fouling, available stockpile locations and environmental mitigations.
SRA’s newest RM95 ballast cleaner can install geofabric as it works, providing improved structural performance and increased bearing capacity, improving rail asset performance benefits for clients. Their RM80 ballast cleaner has been working in the Hunter Valley for over a decade, successfully delivering over 300km of ballast cleaning for ARTC’s heavy haul network.
Managing Director of SRA, Anne Modderno says the success of the recent projects are an ongoing demonstration of SRA’s ability to complete specialist rail maintenance services.
“Ballast cleaning is a critical maintenance activity to support effective network operations and track performance,” she said.
“The versatility of our ballast cleaning fleet means that our machines can be used to deliver preventative maintenance projects, like conditions this week in Narrabri, and reactive strategies such as full excavation, complete ballast replacement, as well as track lowering to improve clearances to fixed structures.
“Our team have the capability to deliver all aspects of ballast cleaning operations. We have become known as ballast cleaning experts in the Australian rail industry, due to not only our specialist and unique fleet of plant and equipment and highly trained staff, but also our solutions-driven and client centric approach.”
Learn more about SRA’s projects on their website.
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