A tamping machine (1) for compacting the ballast bed of a track (9), has tamping units (4) for tamping under a track, with a lifting-straightening device (2) arranged between running gears (8), preferably in front of the tamping units (4) in the working direction (C), for lifting and straightening tracks and railroad switches, having at least one height-adjustable lifting roller (6) and having at least one lifting hook (7) that is height-adjustable independently of the lifting roller (6), the lifting roller (6) and the lifting hook (7) being arranged on a common console (31) that is guided displaceably transversely to the longitudinal axis (L) of the tamping machine by means of an adjusting drive (17). The console (31) is arranged on a guiding slide (10), with which it is displaceable transversely to the longitudinal axis (L) of the tamping machine along a transverse guide (16), and the console (31) is mounted on the guiding slide (10) so as to be pivotally adjustable about a pivot axis (30) parallel to the longitudinal axis of the tamping machine by means of a swivel drive (12).

During the tamping of a switch, a switch section delimited by two adjacent sleepers is photographed in a front machine section for producing a reference photo, and the photo is stored. The stored reference photo is automatically made available on a monitor, positioned in a work cabin, for observation by an operator as soon as the tamping tools are situated above the section of the switch shown by the reference photo.

A method operates a tamping machine on a track. The tamping machine contains a tamping unit, a lifting and lining unit, a measuring system with a measuring value transducer, and a control/regulating device. The lifting and lining unit being actuated by the control/regulating device as a function of a track position recorded by the measuring system in such a way that a treated track section is lifted to a target level during a lifting time. At least two controllers set up in the control/regulating device are selected in such a way that the first controller is activated in a first lifting mode for standard operation and that the second controller is activated in a second lifting mode for turnouts. The respective controller is optimized for the assigned controlled line.

The invention relates to a tamping unit for tamping sleepers of a track, comprising a tamping unit segment with opposing tamping tools tiltably mounted on a height-adjustable tool carrier, with the respective tamping tool being coupled with a vibration drive via a transmission element. The respective transmission element is connected with the assigned tamping tool via a first joint and with a squeezing drive supported on the same tamping tool via a second joint. This design enables a space-saving arrangement of the squeezing drives, resulting in a compact design.