Ballasted track superstructures: Performance of innovative railway sleepers

A railway sleeper is the structural element which transversally connects the two rails by means of fastening components, thus ensuring its gauge. Its additional function is to firmly secure the track to the ballast and to distribute the loads transferred from railway carriages to the ballast. One of the most important parameters in the characterization of performances given by railway sleepers is represented by their lateral resistance to the sliding: the higher its value increases, the better the track stability becomes, thus reducing the frequency of maintenance interventions necessary to keep the superstructure efficient. This article focuses on the performance of two innovative railway sleepers, recently patented in Italy and called “EGA” and “HP-BB”, under different efficiency conditions of the ballast. The research is carried out through a comparative assessment of traditional mono- and bi-block sleepers, evaluating the resistance of the single sleeper thought as independent of the other constituents of the track.