Belastung oder Beanspruchung - Was treibt die Schotterbettinstandsetzung?

This article deals with the investigation of line sections that are similar in terms of their transport volume (tonnes per day), superstructure components and radii, but have different load (traffic collectives). The historical maintenance activities for the ballast bed of these track sections are compared. Analyses of the examined sections show that the historical maintenance work for the ballast differs depending on traffic collective: The higher the load, the shorter the maintenance intervals of the ballast bed. These analyses underline the fact that ballast maintenance is not only driven by vehicle weight, but rolling stock composition of trains do also play a significant role.