Faster to the ideal state
Immediately after laying a new track and following tamping work or ballast bed cleaning, not all ballast stones are lying in a consolidated and therefore ideal stable position. Up to 1973, trains could travel over such tracks for certain periods of time only at reduced speed.
After construction jobs on the track such as maintenance, ballast bed cleaning or new track laying, some of the ballast stones are not in an ideal position to each other. Very often the ballast stones only touch at the points and edges. This means there is a lack of density and stability which is necessary to anchor the track in the ballast ideally.
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