A ballast cleaner is a machine that specialises in cleaning the railway track ballast of impurities.

Why do they clean ballast?

As pointed out by a maintenance officer of one of the country's leading railroads, the cleaning of stone ballast improves the drainage by removing the dirt and opening up the voids between the stones.

How does a ballast cleaning machine work?

Modern ballast cleaner operations

A cutter bar runs beneath sleeper level excavating all of the ballast under the sleepers to a specified, variable depth. A conveyor then moves the ballast into the cleaner, where it gets forced through a mesh by a shaking chamber.