Hypnotic Process of Clearing Ballast on 1000 Mile Rail Tracks

[Music] hello everyone and welcome back to the flukdis channel the railway system features among the most popular means of moving people and bulk cargo from place to place in fact there are some eight hundred and seven thousand miles worth of railway lines around the world with 155 000 miles of those found in the u.s alone for greater efficiency they all need to be regularly cleaned and maintained though maintenance of the actual tracks themselves is a big part of this process it's also important that support structures underneath the tracks be tended to as well [Music] one of these components of the railway track is called ballast which consists of the entire track bed that forms the base upon which the rails and sleepers are installed not only must this ballast be kept clean but it must sometimes be completely cleared and replaced to preserve the integrity of the entire rail structure that bears these thousand ton trains and their often impressive loads [Music] as trains pass over the track the pressure can either push ballast away or pack it too tightly into the soil this reduces the effectiveness of drainage and increases the probability of damage being done to the rail some rail maintenance companies prefer to clean rail ballast rather than replace it all together with the use of machines like the rm900 there has been a massive improvement in the entire ballast replacement process in the past if you wanted to renew the ballast you had to take the track completely out and that's okay if you're going to renew the whole track with a ballast that's a problem having to take the track out and then put it back and run the ballast that's what this machine will say it'll go through and can renew ballast or frankly anywhere on the network and we don't have to actually touch the track this can be extremely helpful as it removes the dirt and grime that have built up on the rocks and stones so that water can drain properly again [Music] it's also much faster with the entire process taking place while the ballast cleaning machine is driving over the track these machines are relatively new in the world of railway maintenance but they have proved extremely effective at reducing the time and manpower required to keep the railroad safe and operational essentially the machine removes the ballast from underneath the track and it goes through a series of sifters and conveyors to remove the contaminants and the small rock from the ballast and good ballast will be returned in behind the cutting chain and the spoil is taken away and discarded the rm900 ballast replacement machine measures about 328 feet but when its entire 12 wagon working structure is attached it reaches an impressive 1300 feet as slow and challenging as maintaining a railway may be at least it takes place on stable ground the same cannot be said about maintaining a ship in water balancing on the unstable waves indeed submerged ship holes and boat propellers frequently need to be cleaned of build-up and barnacles to perform properly in most cases this must be done by hand using an underwater grinder a well polished and regularly cleaned propeller can deliver up to 10 percent in fuel savings when it comes time to clean the hole itself divers will use a special vehicle that quickly moves over the surface of the boat scrubbing and polishing it as it goes [Music] while cleaning the holes and propellers of these massive maritime vessels may be complex maintaining the propulsion system of an aircraft presents a far bigger challenge your average airplane engine especially jet engines comprises of thousands of moving parts and they still need to be cleaned and maintained regularly in order to function safely a big part of this procedure involves inspecting the numerous engine components for damage and lubricating them [Music] the process of removing disassembling and reassembling these massive jet engines takes an entire crew of workers and several hours of meticulous if any problems are detected a new engine will be installed while the faulty one is set aside for repairs not only do the planes and their engines require constant repairs and inspections the airport runways must be properly maintained in order to prevent potentially life-threatening occurrences from taking place in general airports may require more daily maintenance than almost any other large-scale transportation facility in the world one of the biggest jobs of all removing the rubber residue left over from hundreds of aircraft landings every single day in some cases runway technicians need to do the job by hand with small machines at larger busier airports full-sized rubber removal vehicles are needed a good example is this heavy duty runway cleaner from cyclone [Music] it uses powerful jets of pressurized water to remove the rubber from the runway in mere seconds the vehicle itself is designed with a storage for water and the waste rubber only the forward jets are used in the removal process at the same time these jets are capable of recovering the water and rubber residue so that the runway can be ready for use again as soon as the cleaning is complete [Music] another major component of runway safety is the visible markings painted on the surface the numbers runway stripes and hash marks are very important to pilots who need to see them clearly from hundreds of feet in the air unfortunately weather wear and even the rubber removal process can cause these markings to fade over time [Applause] repainting is typically done using special vehicles that technicians can slowly drive along targeted areas of the runway [Music] there is a different vehicle for virtually every type of marking which helps simplify the process different types of paint are used depending on the area of the runway being touched up in cases where the paint needs to be reflective a special coating of glass beads is added by hand the continuity of all land air and sea transport facilities is assured by the teams of men and women working tirelessly to see that both the machines and their tracks are kept in perfect order [Music] that's the end of this video i hope you enjoyed it make sure to subscribe to this channel so you don't miss any of our new content we'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Fluctus

Views: 425,037

Keywords: ballast, maintenance, Bennett Brook, Cobra Packing machine, replacement, RM900, disassembling, reassembling, jet engines, rubber residue, hulls, propellers, environmentally friendly, repainting

Id: wQ8HwOqltwE

Length: 8min 44sec (524 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 03 2022