| The maintenance of a general speed railroad’s ballast turnout has been a longstanding challenge for the public works department.The Fuyang-Huainan Railway,despite being under construction for a long time,suffers from low design standards,weak equipment foundations,and exposure to natural and transportation conditions.These factors have caused fatigue damage to structural parts,dirty roadbeds,slurry,and overall geometric instability,resulting in vibration-induced equipment failure that disrupts normal railroad transportation and endangers safety.This paper analyzes three major issues with turnouts on the Fuyang-Huainan Railway: geometric instability,wear and damage of rail parts,and deterioration of bed condition.By summarizing persistent issues and solution measures at home and abroad,as well as on-site evaluations,we find that the primary cause of deteriorating turnout equipment quality is the crushing of ballast particles,which reduces the bed’s elasticity and ability to absorb train impact and vibration.This leads to increased turnout rail fatigue damage,abnormal wear,and residual bed deformation,which exacerbates geometric instability and impairs traffic flow and safety.We conducted manual digging and instrument detection of the turnout bed area to accurately evaluate dirt and support stiffness.Using these results,we compared and analyzed the geometry and structural condition of various turnouts and investigated the impact of bed deterioration on them.Our findings indicate that initial ballast grading and dirt are the source of bed deterioration,while defects in the upper structure increase the impact load on trains during daily operation,accelerating fragmentation and pulverization of ballast particles.To address this issue,we propose using a new bed structure form,sand bedding,and a combination of coarse-grained and fine-grained ballast to extend the service state of the bed.Additionally,we recommend three tamping operations(manual,small hydraulic,and large road maintenance machinery)to correct uneven turnout geometry.We also analyze the impact of tamping mode on the service state of the roadbed and suggest practical optimization measures. |
