Improvements in railroad efficiency in the future may likely require higher passenger train speeds and heavier freight axle loads. As the demand for more efficient rail transportation grows, so does the need for higher performance and lower maintenance track. To attain higher performing track, a better understanding of the track’s behavior and the interaction of its components are required. An important component of the conventional railroad track structure is the magnitudes and distribution of interfacial pressures between the ballast and ties. This interface impacts many functions of both the tie and the ballast including initiating pressure distribution into the ballast layer, allowing for track geometry adjustment through tamping, and providing vertical, lateral, and longitudinal track stability. Common track issues such as ballast degradation, tie degradation, tie center-binding, and differential track settlement are greatly impacted by the ballast-tie interface pressure levels. Actually the ballast-tie interface is characterized by high pressures due to low effective contact areas between the tie and the rough, angular ballast particles. These high pressures may contribute to ballast particle breakage, tie surface degradation, and ballast degradation. A better understanding of the fundamental properties, such as the ballast-tie load environment, could lead to increased understanding of the impact on tie bending input loads, track geometry, and tie and ballast degradation modeling. Along the continuum, properties and relationships serve as input to track maintenance planning, ultimately leading to enhanced maintenance strategies and policies.