Infrastructure Environment Building Energy About Us Know-how Careers Press & Publications FR / DE / EN Facebook LinkedIn Prélèvement ballast Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast Prélèvement sur le tas Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast Quartage Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast Hydrocarbure trainées grasses et collantes Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast 1 2 3 4 5 News Environment Infrastructure Transportation Depollution Environment Geology/geotechnic Incineration Polluted sites and landfills Rail engineering Waste treatment Audit Balance Construction management and supervision Construction study Consulting Expertises Feasibility study Functional analysis Project study Security study France Chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast Published on 27.11.2013 BG was commissioned by the SNCF (French national rail company) in the name and on behalf of Réseau Ferré de France (RFF, operator of the French rail network) to develop a protocol for chemical characterisation of end-of-life railway ballast, and to apply this protocol at more than 100 sites in France. The French rail network has been undergoing major renovations in recent years, including renewal of ballast, which is an essential component of railway tracks. Ballast is the bed of crushed stone or gravel on which the latter are laid. It is designed to cushion the vibrations of passing trains, hold the ties in place and facilitate drainage of water off the tracks. The life cycle of ballast is about 30-40 years, and it is replaced when it loses its ability to cushion the vibrations caused by rail traffic. Acting on behalf of RFF, as it generally does, the SCNF needs to know the composition of the ballast in order to comply with waste management laws. BG's mission was conducted in two parallel processes: A research and development process, to draw up a protocol for characterising the composition of ballast. This work was initiated in late 2010 and continued through 2013. It led to the implementation, jointly with the SNCF, of a characterisation protocol for end-of-life railway ballast. This protocol was developed after a study of the regulatory framework applicable to ballast, a tour of a ballast reprocessing site, as well as bibliographic and data analysis. It takes into account the specific nature of the ballast as well as the sampling context (location on the tracks, ballast appearance, presence of anthropogenic materials, etc.). The statistical analysis of the samples and the critical assessment of the results obtained on new and spent ballast allowed BG to identify major trends regarding the quality of spent ballast. So, BG could determine the origin of anthropogenic materials stemming from rail activity, and, more generally, the causes of observed pollutant distributions as well as the uncertainty factors associated with the sampling method or the laboratory. An operational process, to provide ballast characterisation services for renewal projects. Between late 2010 and 2013, BG performed over 100 operations in metropolitan France (mostly in Ile de France and the Northeast), in a wide variety of ballast renewal contexts (high-output or standard ballast cleaning systems, characterisation on piles or open track, etc.). This characterisation work is on-going at new ballast renewal projects. Learn more: Project sheet: Mise en place d'un protocole de caractérisation de ballasts (French only) Project sheet: Missions de caractérisation chimique de complexe ballasté en fin de vie ferroviaire (French only) Related news Gibelhorn Upgrades—An Ambitious Construction Project Environment Infrastructure Transportation Civil engineering Road construction Structure Audit Construction management and supervision Construction study Cost control Expert monitoring Feasibility study Functional analysis Project study Security Security study Tender Switzerland Breakthrough of the Pinchat Tunnel: a major milestone after three years of construction work Infrastructure Transportation Civil engineering Geology/geotechnic Tunnelling Construction management and supervision Project study Tender France Switzerland BG signs a historical contract for the Ivry-Paris-XIII waste recovery centre Environment Waste Environment Incineration Waste treatment Construction management and supervision France Sections Environment Environment Water Depollution Drinking water Environment Flood management Hydraulic engineering Polluted sites and landfills Waste treatment Risk management Sustainable development Transportation Planning Transportation Rail engineering Road construction Feasibility study Functional analysis Planning and design Europe Infrastructure Infrastructure Transportation Civil engineering Flood management Rail engineering Waste treatment Domain All sections Projects Project management support for the group tasked with the design/implementation of upgrades to meet UWWT* requirements at the Seine Aval water treatment plant in Achères Environment Water Water treatment Client assistance Construction management and supervision Construction study Feasibility study Planning and design Project study France Çamlica I Hydroelectric Power Plant Scheme on Zamanti River (Turkey) Energy Environment Infrastructure Water Automated process Civil engineering Electricity Electromechanic Hydropwer Client assistance Construction management and supervision Construction study Cost control Expertises Planning and design Project study Rest of the world Hydroélectricité Hydropower Wasserkraft Modernisation of the Potable Water Production System for the Annecy Metropolitan Community Environment Water Drinking water Bringing into service Construction management and supervision Construction study Cost control Feasibility study Planning and design Project study Tender France All projects Documents 15.08.2017 Brochure Underground Works Infrastructure Transportation Risk Tunnelling Wastewater Construction management and supervision Planning and design Project study Brochure 04.09.2014 Brochure Support to Operation Infrastructure Transportation Audit Consulting Security study Brochure 20.12.2013 Brochure Territorial Energy and Environmental Planning Energy Environment Depollution Environment Geology/geotechnic Networks Polluted sites and landfills Core competencies Brochure All documents Click on a city to display our contact information. 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