Design methods for current and future cane railway track - a review

Ballard (1986) has proposed a design method which includes facets of road pavement design for low maintenance track structures in the sugar industry. This method is based upon the conventional beam-on-elastic foundation approach for rail and sleeper design, estimation of stresses in the track formation by application of Boussinesq's theory for uniformly loaded rectangular bearing areas and road pavement design theory to determine the depth of ballast in relation to vertical stress levels and fatigue. Ballard's effort to formalize cane railway design practice is seen as needy and well overdue in light of the increase in axle loads in the sugar cane industry over recent decades. This paper presents a review of aspects of both conventional and Ballard's design methods with regard to cane railways and an assessment of the large waggon on existing cane railway track.