Railway track maintenance using the stoneblower

The search for an improved mechanised method of maintaining railway track to the correct level and alignment led to the development of the Stoneblower, a machine that lifts the rail and attached sleepers and pneumatically injects the required amount of 20 mm stone into the void created. This minimises disturbance to the existing well-compacted ballast. By 1999 a fleet of Stoneblowers; was fully operational across the UK rail network and achieving target rates of track maintenance. This paper compares the track-quality data recorded before, during and after Stoneblower maintenance and confirms the potential of the Stoneblower. Detailed analysis of the data has given a better understanding of the performance, and has provided guidance for optimising the deployment of the Stoneblowers and the stoneblowing procedures.