other types of vehicles Track cleaner No. RM 630

The type RM 63 was first built in the early 1970s as the first of a series of track-cleaning machines by Plasser & Theurer. It was designed to clean the ballast bed underneath track already in place. This is necessary after track has been in place for some years, as the accumulation of dust, earth, weeds and roots between the ballast stones reduces the ability of the ballasted track bed to absorb vibration.

The machine, some 37 metres long, can lift tracks slightly and scrape out the ballast lying underneath them. The material is then cleaned in several screens. The re-usable ballast doesn't fall through the screens but is directed evenly by two swivelling automatically-controlled conveyor belts with adjustable swivelling sections back into the track area. Undersized stones, earth and other unwanted material are all fed along a conveyor belt on the roof of the machine into wagons attached, to be disposed of separately. A single person with a view of the operating sections of the machine can operate it from a centrally-located control panel sited right next to the excavating chain