A tamping assembly for a track tamping machine has a pair of tamping tools arranged on a carrier (2) so it is vertically adjustable in a tamping assembly frame and is designed as a rocker arm, the lower tamping pick ends (5) of which, which plunge into a ballast bed (4), are drivable in opposite directions using an oscillation drive (6) and can be fed hydraulically toward one another. To increase the stability of the tamping assembly, a hydraulic cylinder (11) and a distance sensor (12) for determining the hydraulic cylinder position are associated with each of the tamping tools (3) of a tamping tool pair, wherein the hydraulic cylinders (11) form the feed drive and also the oscillation drive (6) of the tamping tools (3) and the hydraulic cylinders (11) are activated in dependence on the distance sensor signal.