New sustainable materials for ballast, subbalast and form layer in railway infrastructures

Abstract

This article presents three innovative and sustainable solutions to improve European railway infrastructures. Firstly, Neoballast is presented, a new solution for ballast that offers greater durability, less environmental impact and a reduction in noise and vibrations, among many other benefits. Secondly, the steel slag aggregates developed in the Gain project for use as railway sub-ballast and subgrade, which offers greater mechanical performance than conventional aggregates while making the most of a waste product from steel production, will be presented. Thirdly, the steel slag aggregates developed in the Birbalas project for use as railway ballast and sub-ballast is presented, for which definitive results are still being gathered, although the preliminary results are very positive.