Ballast delivery and computation system and method

A method, performed by a computer having a processor and system memory, for calculating missing ballast volume on a section of railroad track, comprising:

• scanning an existing section of railroad track using a remote sensing system to produce a set of data points representing an existing surface of the railroad track;
• registering an ideal surface with reference to the existing surface to create a volume, the ideal surface defining a full volume level;
• determining a number of scan points that fall within the volume and lie below the full volume level;
• obtaining an incremental cross-sectional area by multiplying a coordinate for each scan point that lies below the full volume level by a magnitude below the full volume level and a weighted factor associated with the volume, wherein the weighted factor is a point weighting factor or a variable weighting factor;
• and
• accumulating a total volume by multiplying the incremental cross-sectional area by an incremental distance between scan locations and adding all results.