The ballast layer is intended to provide a free draining base
and sufficient bearing capacity to maintain a proper track
alignment. Due to the growth in commuter and industrial traffic,
the railway industry needs to fulfil the demands for faster,
heavier, and longer trains. However, these high traffic loads
often result in a large plastic deformations and degradation of
ballast, which in turn, leads to a significant loss of track
stability and high maintenance costs. The deformation and
degradation of ballast are influenced by factors such as the
amplitude and frequency of loading, the number of load cycles,
track confining pressure, gradation of aggregates, and the
angularity and fracture strength of individual particles. The
use of geocomposite (biaxial geogrid-nonwoven geotextile) for
enhancing the performance of rail tracks was described, with the
aim of reducing track settlement, increasing track resiliency,
and decreasing ballast degradation. The effects of impact loads
on ballast degradation and its mi