Shake table tests have been used for a long time to understand the densification and fluidization of granular materials. While purely vertical shaking is quite unlikely to be found in vibration analysis when it comes to granular materials as soils, it has been found that the vertical vibration of railway bridge support structures can affect the fabric of the ballasted track on top. Starting from the experience at French railway lines with destabilizing track conditions on short bridges in high speed lines in the 1990s, various shake table test configurations have been used to investigate the destabilization of ballast at high acceleration levels. This article describes the effects of the variously investigated dynamic excitations of railway bridges on the ballasted track itself.