Ballasted track remains the dominant means of rail sleeper support to allow for high compression loading and controlling rail movement. It also provides essential water drainage.
By Nigel Attwood, Head of Sales
We’ve all experienced more extreme weather over the last few years and many travelling by train have suffered delays due to track floods. It is therefore important to maintain the ballast to afford for effective drainage.
Clearing debris or contamination from ballast can be time consuming and exposes operators to increased risk. The users of systems to protect the rail from wear such as total loss trackside lubricators and/or Top Of Rail friction control materials (TOR) need to ensure the products deployed do not contaminate the ballast which can impact drainage. Sites where these systems are located can be particularly vulnerable to ballast contamination from excess product falling off the rail into the ballast. If left unchecked these products can build up and seep into the earth and water courses. It is therefore essential to ensure correct system set up and products used have the least impact to the ballast and environment.
Operators of trackside lubricators and/or TOR equipment should always ensure the correct amount of lubricant/TOR is applied to avoid waste falling off the rail into the ballast. Over application can occur when the systems are incorrectly set, in need of maintenance and sometimes due to the operators misguided expectation that more is better. Where over application occurs, there can be safety risks including rail head contamination leading to reduced train braking performance from wheel slip and possible ‘lost’ trains due to the insulating nature of the product used. Additional problems resulting from contaminated ballast can also lead to ineffective tamping and recycling of the ballast material.
It should not be forgotten that manual over application on or around switches also contribute to ballast contamination. Given all these application methods are true total loss systems some exposure to the ballast is inevitable.
How to limit risk
In addition to potential blocked ballast, non-biodegradable lubricants and TOR products can cause long lasting damage to the earth and water courses. Operators should avoid rail and switch lubricants or TOR products which contain materials such as heavy metals including zinc or aluminium or plastics such as PTFE which fail to break down in the environment. Operators can stipulate products applied have been tested and shown to be readily biodegradable according to an OECD 301(A-F)* standard test method. This gives assurances that excess product falling off the rail has the natural ability to biodegrade to their natural state when subjected to sunlight, water and microbial activity. It should be noted that microbial activity occurs when product has entered the ballast/ground and not on the rail. Operators may also choose a product which carries the EU Ecolabel for greater confidence in the environmental credentials. This ensures restricted use of hazardous materials such as no non-biodegradable and (potentially) bio accumulative substances allowed in the product and stringent limits on the aquatic toxicity of substances and ingredients.
If you’d like to find out more about using the right environmental products for rail lubricants and TOR including those with Ecolabel approval, please get in touch.
https://www.rsclare.com/our-markets/rail-friction-management-solutions/
*OECD 301 has 6 variations (A to F) of the test method to categorise a product as readily biodegradable. Depending on the test method chosen, results of either >60% (B, C, D, F) or >70% (A, E) within 28 days pass the requirements for a product to be classified as readily biodegradable’
Further information on EU Ecolabel can be found here: https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/647506 – or contact us to discuss this in more detail.