Assessment of aggregate sources in Michigan for high speed railroad ballast.

Details

• Creators:
  Vitton, Stan ; Breitenbucher, Kurt
• Corporate Creators:
  Michigan Technological University. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • High speed rail
  • Ballast (Railroads)
  • Aggregates
  • Standards
  • Evaluation and assessment
  • Specifications
• Publication/ Report Number:
  RC-1606
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Michigan
• Corporate Publisher:
  Michigan. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Research and Best Practices
• Abstract:
  MDOT purchased 135 miles of the Norfolk-Southern railroad in 2012 to upgrade for high speed rail travel ; between Chicago and the Detroit area. An important part of the upgrade is to assess the current quality of ; the ballast material and to determine if the ballast meets possible high speed rail standards. This report ; investigated current MDOT ballast standards, other US railroad standards, international standards and if ; high speed rail ballast standards had been adopted. The Los Angeles abrasion (LAA) standard was used to ; investigate aggregate sources in Michigan and the surroundings states and Canada. The LAA values used ; in the study were obtained from MDOT’s aggregate inventory database. MDOT’s current LAA ; specification is a minimum of 40%, while Amtrak is 18%. The study found that the current MDOT ; ballast specifications of LAA of 40% allow most of the carbonate sources in Lower Peninsula to be used. ; The stricter LAA limit of 18% would not allow most carbonate aggregate source to be used, while 25% of ; the igneous and metamorphic sources that occur in the Upper Peninsula (UP) and Canada would be able ; to meet the 18% specification. The study also investigated the dynamic properties of the Port Inland ; limestone and found that while its LAA would not meet Amtrak standards, its dynamic strength is similar ; to the static strength of the iron ore waste rock in the UP.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  2010-0295
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28079/dot_28079_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.39 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:46a8faebf000a11a9e92a11aab6d16d01e5d3e4e4167f110b919a74101f442d4