COMSA
The construction company COMSA and the Korea Railroad Research Institute, which forms part of the country’s main R&D entity, the National Research Council of Science and Technology, have joined forces through the Ballaxt project to create a new optimised ballast from synthetic materials with the aim of improving its resistance and durability, as well as reducing the costs associated with railway maintenance.
Infrastructure currently accounts for about one-third of railway operating costs and there is a great deal of interest on the part of managers in ensuring that the elements that make up the track are of high quality and have a longer life cycle.
Against this background, COMSA and the Korean technology centre will jointly research new types of materials to create an artificial ballast, adaptable in shape, size, weight and composition, and more resistant, which improves mechanical behaviour, increases the useful life of the railway bed and reduces track maintenance costs. This product will also limit the environmental impact of working increasingly scarce natural rock quarries.