030871 Dumping ballast from a hi-rail dump truck with a swivel bed allows the gravel to be placed precisely where needed. While larger track construction projects usually have ballast dumped directly from railcars, smaller projects often use these types of dump tracks capable of traveling both by road and by rail, with the latter by means of retractable flanged wheels. These trucks typically do not bring the ballast directly from a gravel pit. Rather, they are usually loaded near the construction scene by a front-end loader from a prepositioned pile of gravel. This construction site is on the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR) line through Durham, N.C., near East Durham Yard. The work is part of a larger project to increase passenger train speeds on this line. The NCRR is owned by the state but operated by Norfolk Southern.

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