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In spite of recent advances in ballasted railway track, the correct choice of ballast for rail track is still considered critical because aggregates progressively deteriorate under traffic loading and environmental exposures. Various ballast requirements, functions and duties have been defined by researchers, railway companies and countries' regulations even though it needs to be integrated to make following proper decision during track operation and maintenance. A proper understanding of ballast properties and suitable tests are prerequisites for minimizing maintenance costs. This paper presents a capable classification for ballast characteristics which need to be investigated beforehand to such a way, firstly to assign ballast functions, secondly need to clarify ballast requirements, thirdly to map appropriate tests to evaluate ballast characteristics and then it must be such that if ballast cannot carry out one of these duties, be able to call there is ballast defect. The paper is structured in order to achieve these objectives.
Sadeghi et al. (Sat,) studied this question.