Economic Assesment for Track Ballast Structures based on Proper Maintenance Level

In general, it is known that the concrete ballast track is possible to reduce a cost of maintenance activities cause of maintenance free by restrictive maintenance in application of track ballast structures. However, if deteriorations and fracture mechanism of a material are considered, proper maintenance activities and repairing are continually required. For the problems, we evaluated an economical efficiency of the gravel ballast and the concrete ballast on a proper level of maintenance activities. As the method based on history path is difficult to obtain sufficient reliabilities cause of an absence of real data for maintenance activities, we chose the delphi survey method by professional group, and we obtained the appropriate index and profiles for maintenance activities. As a result, we founded that effects for cost reduction can be expected by preventive maintenance management, and we proposed economical restrictions and life cycle cost for track ballast structures in a life cycle.