Australia’s end-of-life tyres could have a second life as shock absorbers to protect railway tracks from damage.
The world-first technology was validated over two years by a collaborative team from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney Trains, Transport for NSW, and industry partners EcoFlex and Bridgestone, following extensive monitoring at a live Sydney Trains freight line in Chullora.
Researchers installed track sections with the rubber underlay alongside conventional track sections for a direct comparison, monitoring vibration, track settlement, and ballast degradation under real-world conditions. The results, detailed in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal, confirmed that sections with the rubber underlay showed significantly less degradation and greater stability.
