A system for and method of stabilizing rail track structures using a load transfer apparatus is disclosed. The load transfer apparatus includes a vertical load transfer element and a top load transfer element, wherein the top load transfer element is used to transfer applied locomotive and rail car loads to the vertical load transfer element. In one embodiment, the top load transfer element includes helical flights. In another embodiment, the top load transfer element includes a flared top. In yet another embodiment, the top load transfer element includes a load transfer cap. In a further embodiment, the top load transfer element includes two or more support legs each with a top support attached thereto. The railroad stabilization system can comprise any one type or any combinations of types of the aforementioned load transfer apparatuses.

An example track system includes: a supporting structure; ballast supported by the supporting structure; a plurality of track ties supported by the ballast; a pair of rails supported by the plurality of track ties; and a layer of rubberized asphalt coating disposed as an interface between the ballast and the supporting structure, the rubberized asphalt coating having bituminous binder, crumb rubber particles, and small gradation hard rock aggregate; wherein resiliency of the layer of rubberized asphalt coating permits particles of the ballast in direct contact with the layer of rubberized asphalt coating to move elastically relative to each other while inhibiting abrasion of adjacent ones of the particles of the ballast against each other and against the supporting structure.

An example method for forming a track system includes: providing track ties configured to support rails; providing stone ballast configured to support the track ties; and disposing a layer of rubberized asphalt coating between the ballast and the track ties, the rubberized asphalt coating having a bituminous binder, crumb rubber particles, and small gradation stone aggregate; wherein resiliency of the layer of rubberized asphalt coating permits particles of the ballast in direct contact with the layer of rubberized asphalt coating to move elastically relative to the bottom of the tie and to each other while inhibiting abrasion of adjacent ones of the particles of the ballast against each other and against the bottom of the track ties.

A system for and method of stabilizing rail track structures using a load transfer apparatus is disclosed. The load transfer apparatus includes a vertical load transfer element with at least one cross-sectional rib and a top load transfer element with at least one longitudinal vertical fin, wherein the top load transfer element is used to transfer applied locomotive and rail car loads to the vertical load transfer element. In one embodiment, the vertical load transfer element comprises a plurality of cross-sectional ribs spaced along a length of the vertical load transfer element. In another embodiment, the top load transfer element comprises a plurality of longitudinal vertical fins spaced along a perimeter of the top load transfer element to enhance stability of the top load transfer element.

An method and apparatus for coating transportation components such as a bridge deck with a coating. The coating includes a sealant and rubber mixed with a resin and a foaming agent. The apparatus includes a hopper for the rubber, a impingement gun for the resin and a gun assembly that combined the rubber and resin together at a combined nozzle for spraying.

A method is provided for foaming a ballast bed of a railway track wherein the railway track comprises sleepers positioned on the ballast bed and rails positioned on the sleepers, wherein the rails are covered at least in a partial area along a region of the ballast bed to be foamed, and a foaming agent is introduced into the ballast bed while the rails are covered, wherein the ballast bed has in a sleeper bay defined by two successive sleepers an upper side facing against the gravitational direction, and the ballast bed is heaped up so that the upper side of the ballast bed reaches at least up to an underneath side of the sleeper facing in the gravitational direction.

A tamping assembly for a track tamping machine comprises a carrier guided in a height-adjustable manner with respect to a tamping assembly frame along guides, on which carrier pairs of tamping tools formed as oscillating levers are pivotably mounted, the tamping tools of which can be oppositely driven by an oscillation drive and can be hydraulically adjusted relative to one another, said tamping tools being intended for introduction into a ballast bed. To reduce the number of required drives, several of the tamping tools are combined into tamping units with a compartment between them engaging around a rail and are mechanically connected to each other, and each oscillating lever is associated with a tamping unit and an adjusting drive, wherein the guides, especially the guide rods, act directly on the respective carrier and run in fixed guides of the tamping assembly frame.

Vacuum tube railway system comprising a vacuum tube mounted on a ground support, a magnetic levitation railway track mounted inside a wall forming the vacuum tube for guiding a magnetic levitation railway vehicle, the vacuum tube assembled in sections along the ground support, at least some of a plurality of sections of vacuum tube being coupled together by a dilatation joint configured for hermetically sealing a dilatation gap between said sections of tube. The dilatation joint comprises at least first and second support plates mounted on an outer surface of the tube wall, a first support plate fixed to a first section of vacuum tube and a second support plate being fixed to a second section of vacuum tube, the support plates extending longitudinally over the dilatation gap over a length (L1) greater than a maximum dilatation gap (G).

The invention is a system and method for repairing, improving, and stabilizing subgrade and subsoil/natural ground layers of a rail bed generally consisting of softer soils. One embodiment includes a method of installing subsurface inclusions and ballast fills comprising injected slurry mixtures of stabilizing material such as cement grout mixed with in situ soil. Another embodiment includes a system of installed ground inclusions and ballast fills. Another embodiment includes an integrated system of equipment for emplacing the system of inclusions and ballast fills.

Vacuum tube railway system comprising a vacuum tube mounted on a ground support, a magnetic levitation railway track mounted inside a wall forming the vacuum tube for guiding a magnetic levitation railway vehicle, the vacuum tube assembled in sections along the ground support, at least some of a plurality of sections of vacuum tube being coupled together by a dilatation joint configured for hermetically sealing a dilatation gap between said sections of tube. The dilatation joint comprises at least first and second support plates mounted on an outer surface of the tube wall, a first support plate fixed to a first section of vacuum tube and a second support plate being fixed to a second section of vacuum tube, the support plates extending longitudinally over the dilatation gap over a length (L1) greater than a maximum dilatation gap (G).