The behaviour of Prestressed Concrete Sleeper (pcs) sitting on railway track

Prestressed concrete sleeper (PCS) is one of the important components for railway structural system. PCS sits on ballast (ground) and the load from the train wheel will be transferred through it thus distributed to the ground. In Malaysia, the ground condition from one place to another is unique. If the PCS sits on an uneven or unstable ground base, the load from the train may not be transferred smoothly to the ground and when that happened, the PCS might be damaged or broken into half. In this research, the researchers, with the help of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) personnel, studied about some problematic PCS that sit on an uneven ground base. By using the state-of-the-art on-site equipment, results were obtained and strengthened the KTMB assumption on their problematic sites. The data collection shows that the value of deflection is higher at KM20.75 compared to KM26.25 which is 18.90mm and 1.48mm respectively for 6-coach commuter and 8.45mm and 1.36mm respectively for Electric Train Service (ETS). This result may be affected by the existence void under the rail track structure at KM20.75 due to soil settlement caused by the underground water stream.