A tamping unit for tamping sleepers of a track includes a lowerable tool carrier and oppositely positioned tamping tools. Each tamping tool is connected via a pivot arm to a squeezing drive for producing a squeezing motion and to an electric vibration drive for producing a vibratory motion. The electric vibration drive includes an eccentric shaft which, together with a rotor of an electric motor, is mounted merely in an eccenter housing. A stator of the electric motor with a motor housing is flange-mounted to the eccenter housing. As a result of the omission of a separate motor mounting, the motor housing has a particularly small overall depth.

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.

A method for stabilizing a track having sleepers supported on a track ballast and rails secured to the sleepers, includes using a stabilizing unit which is connected to a machine frame that can be moved on the rails and has a vibration exciter and rollers that can roll on the rails. The vibration exciter generates in particular horizontal vibrations which run transversely to the track longitudinal direction. The course of a force exerted onto the track by the stabilizing unit is recorded over a vibration path during a vibration cycle by sensors. At least one parameter is derived from the course by an evaluation device and is used to evaluate the stabilizing procedure and/or the quality of the track ballast. A device for implementing the method is also provided.

A method for compaction of a track ballast bed uses a tamping unit including two oppositely positioned tamping tools which are actuated with vibrations and are lowered into the track ballast bed during a tamping operation and moved towards one another with a squeezing motion. A progression of a force acting upon the tamping tool over a path covered by the tamping tool is recorded during a vibration cycle by sensors disposed at the tamping unit for at least one tamping tool. At least one characteristic value is derived therefrom and used to carry out an evaluation of the tamping operation and/or of a quality of the track ballast bed. The tamping unit is thus used as a measuring apparatus during operative use. A device for performing the method is also provided.

In a method of operating a tamping unit of a track maintenance machine, the track maintenance machine having the tamping unit is first provided on a track bed. The tamping unit is displaced relative to the track bed. A driving force, acting on the tamping unit and required for the displacement, and acceleration acting on the tamping unit are determined. A ballast force acting between the tamping unit and the track bed is determined by way of the driving force and the acceleration, and is evaluated.

A vibratory tamping machine for compacting a ballast bed of a track has a vibration mechanism which is driven by means of an electric drive motor. The vibratory tamping machine has a vibration decoupling device, which defines a decoupling plane and separates a working side from an operating side, for the vibration-decoupling of at least one handle. The handles are arranged on the operating side, whereas the electric drive motor and the vibration mechanism are arranged on the working side.

A tamping unit for tamping sleepers of a track includes a lowerable tool carrier and oppositely positioned tamping tools. Each tamping tool is connected via a pivot arm to a squeezing drive for producing a squeezing motion and to an electric vibration drive for producing a vibratory motion. The electric vibration drive includes an eccentric shaft which, together with a rotor of an electric motor, is mounted merely in an eccenter housing. A stator of the electric motor with a motor housing is flange-mounted to the eccenter housing. As a result of the omission of a separate motor mounting, the motor housing has a particularly small overall depth.

A method for monitoring a track line by way of a monitoring device which is connected to a sensor extending along the track line. The sensor which is set in vibration delivers measurement data for the monitoring device. A rail vehicle travels on the track line, during which vibrations having known vibration values are introduced into the track line and transmitted to the sensor. Position data of the rail vehicle are recorded and an evaluation device derives a characteristic of the vibration transmission from the vibration values, the position data, and the measurement data for the track line. In this manner, a calibration of the system takes place with only a single run on the track line.

A rail maintenance vehicle includes a frame, a workhead, and a vibration unit. The frame includes wheels that travel along rails. The vibration unit includes a rod member having a coil assembly coupled thereto. The vibration unit further includes a core assembly operable to receive the rod member therein. The core assembly includes a plurality of magnet members disposed along the periphery of the core assembly. The coil assembly and magnet members are operable to impart linear motion to the rod member relative to the core assembly.

The invention relates to a machine for stabilizing a track, including a machine frame supported on on-track undercarriages and a vertically adjustable stabilizing unit designed to roll on rails of the track by means of unit rollers, the stabilizing unit comprising a vibration exciter with rotating imbalance masses for generating an impact force (F.sub.S) acting dynamically in a track plane perpendicularly to a track longitudinal direction and a vertical drive for generating a vertical load acting on the track. In this, it is provided that the vibration exciter comprises at least two imbalance masses which are driven applying a variably adjustable phase shift (.sub.1, .sub.2). The invention further relates to a method for operating such a machine.