Track maintenance machine with a conveyor or excavating chain arrangement

A track maintenance machine with a conveyor or excavating chain arrangement for removing and collecting railway ballast and/or other formation or substructure layers of a track structure, comprising:

• a machine frame (2);
• an ascent channel (12);
• a return channel (13) wherein said ascent channel and said return channel are coupled to said machine frame;
• a cutter bar (9) which can be positioned below a track and which has at least two bar elements (10), each adjustable in position and alignment, and which is attached to said ascent channel (12) and to said return channel (13),
• a height adjustable suspension device (14) coupled to the machine frame;
• a coupling (11);
• a guided excavating chain (17) coupled to the machine frame and consisting of a plurality of chain links, wherein the arrangement can be fastened to said machine frame via said height-adjustable suspension device (14), wherein the guided excavating chain is designed to be divisible, in that the bar elements can be connected via said coupling to form a closed overall unit, and in that the arrangement can be variably adjusted in its excavating working width by adjusting the position of the bar elements,
• wherein the coupling for connecting the bar elements is coupled with a control and regulation system (28) and corresponding measuring equipment as well as sensors for determining position and alignment in order to carry out a fully automatic or semi-automatic actuation of the coupling process.