Ballast is a crucial element of the track superstructure and is the responsible of the track geometry. However, along the time, the progressive deterioration of ballast leads to a descent of track quality, resulting in contamination of the ballast layer with fine particles and rounding of the aggregate to the point in which ballast cleaning or track renewal is required. Since ballast cleaning is an intrusive and costly operation, Infrastructure Managers often decide to renew the whole track superstructure even though the rest of materials (rails, sleepers, etc.) have not reached the end of their service lives.
Neoballast emerges as an innovative, sustainable and cost-efficient solution to ballast that not only addresses the above mentioned problems, but will improve the economic and environmental performance of European railway tracks bringing important socio-economic benefits to the whole society. The main goal is to improve the ballast durability and reduce the maintenance required. The aggregates will be coated by a bespoke binder and recycled rubber coming from end of life vehicles tyres, hence contributing to the circular flow of materials, and could double not only the lifespan of the ballast layer, but the overall track service life. Moreover, Neoballast has also been designed to overcome one of the most important and widespread environmental problems in Europe: Noise and Vibrations. Their elasticity could dissipate energy and significantly reduce the noise and the vibrations produced by the railway infrastructure.
The main objectives of the project are:
- Firstly, the development and validation of a prototype that maximizes the energy- and resource-efficiency for the industrial production of Neoballast.
- Secondly, the demonstration and assessment of the product in real conditions, which will be performed in two field test locations in Europe.
- Finally, the commercialisation of Neoballast through a new constituted company, which is the ultimate goal of the project.
To achieve this ultimate goal, dissemination and communication will be done throughout the project, focusing on involving Infrastructure Managers, railway contractors and all the stakeholders to maximise the replicability.
All the above objectives have been successfully achieved:
- The prototype has been designed and manufactured, producing 250 tones of Neoballast.
- The demonstration of Neoballast has been carried out in a open-to-traffic line near Barcelona.
- The Newco to commercialise Neoballast has been incorporated. The commercialisation of Neoballast is foreseen by the end of 2020, once the definitive technology is designed, manufactured and tested.
