Track ballast in the context of "Deck (bridge)"

Railway track (CwthE and UIC terminology) or railroad track (NAmE), also known as permanent way (per way) (CwthE) or "P way" (BrE and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers (railroad ties in American English) and ballast (or slab track), plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable, low-friction surface on which steel wheels can roll. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast-iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers. Since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel.

A hopper car (NAm) or hopper wagon (UIC) is a type of railroad freight car that has opening doors or gates on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. They are used to transport loose solid bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Plastic pellets and some finely ground material, similar to flour, are transported in hopper cars that have pneumatic unloading. The bottom gates on the pneumatic hoppers connect to a hose attached to industrial facilities' storage tanks. Air is injected to fluidize the railcar contents for unloading. The hopper car was developed in parallel with the development of automated handling of such commodities, including automated loading and unloading facilities.

Hopper cars are distinguished from gondola cars, which do not have opening doors on their underside or sides. Gondola cars are simpler and more compact because sloping ends are not required, but a rotary car dumper is required to unload them. Some "dual-purpose" hoppers have a rotary coupler on one or both ends, so they can be used in both rotary and bottom-dump operations.

A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfer loads to the track ballast and subgrade, hold the rails upright and keep them spaced to the correct gauge.

Railroad ties are traditionally made of wood, but prestressed concrete is now also widely used, especially in Europe and Asia. Steel ties are common on secondary lines in the UK; plastic composite ties are also employed, although far less than wood or concrete. As of January 2008, the approximate market share in North America for traditional and wood ties was 91.5%, the remainder being concrete, steel, azobé (red ironwood) and plastic composite.

A ballastless track or slab track is a type of railway track infrastructure in which the traditional elastic combination of sleepers and ballast is replaced by a rigid construction of concrete or asphalt. It is considered the standard for high-speed and heavy-haul railway lines. It is also commonly used for urban tramways.

Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations. As with standard rail tracks, tram tracks have two parallel steel rails, the distance between the heads of the rails being the track gauge. When there is no need for pedestrians or road vehicles to traverse the track, conventional flat-bottom rail is used. However, when such traffic exists, such as in urban streets, grooved rails are used.

Tram rails can be placed on several surfaces, such as on ground over which track ballast topped by sleepers (US: ties) and flat-bottom rails are laid – as with railway tracks – or, for street running, with grooved rails usually embedded into a concrete pavement. In some places, tracks are laid into grass turf surfaces; they are known as green track, grassed track or track in lawn.