A new type of railway monoblock sleeper

A railway sleeper is the structural element which transversally connects the tworails by means of fastening components, thus ensuring its gauge. Its additionalfunction is to firmly secure the track to the ballast and to distribute the loadstransferred from railway carriages to the ballast. One of the most importantparameters in the characterisation of performances given by railway sleepers isrepresented by their lateral resistance to the sliding: the higher its valueincreases, the better the track stability becomes, thus reducing the frequency ofmaintenance interventions necessary to keep the superstructure efficient.This article focuses on the performance profile of an innovative railway sleeper,patented in Italy and called ‘EGA’ (High Performance mono-Block sleeper), underdifferent efficiency conditions of the ballast. The research is carried out througha comparative assessment of traditional mono and bi-block sleepers, evaluatingthe resistance of the single sleeper thought as independent of the otherconstituents of the track.