The invention provides a method of removing half ties from vaults in a railway bed, including detaching a section of rail from one or more of the underlying half ties of the railway bed. A section of rail may be elevated above the railway bed. In the alternate, the half ties may be cut at positions flanking the rail to form sectioned half ties. A tool of a hydraulic hammer is inserted along one of the half ties until the tool approaches a bottom edge of the half tie. The angle of the tool is lowered to a substantially horizontal angle. The tool is advanced substantially horizontally to free the first one of the half ties from the railway bed and the first one of the half ties is then removed.