Laser Balast

LASER BALAST is a measurement system designed to identify the amount of ballast present on the railroad track using pulsed laser technology and 3D imaging.

During railroad track construction and maintenance, one of the main setbacks that can occur is that the section being worked on does not have the necessary amount of ballast.

To ensure optimal planning of the work to be carried out, it is necessary to know in advance the exact amount of material needed in each area. With this information, both the quality of the work and the productivity of the crews and heavy machinery are improved.

Thanks to this system, Rover Rail is able to identify any excess or shortage of material that may have accumulated along long stretches of track and recover it, resulting in a significant reduction in the use of raw materials and their transport to the job site, as well as a significant reduction in raw material costs and the CO₂ footprint associated with transportation.

For this project, LiDAR (pulsed laser) technology was selected for the 3D modeling and mapping of the ballast bed.

By processing the data using an algorithm for handling 3D point clouds, noise is filtered out, the model’s triangular mesh is simplified, and cross-sections of the track embankment are obtained, which are then compared with its theoretical profile. This makes it possible to precisely determine any excess or deficiency in the track ballast.