RAIL ROLLING-CONTACT FATIGUE - RESEARCH BY THE EUROPEAN-RAIL-RESEARCH-INSTITUTE

Rail rolling contact fatigue is an increasing problem in high speed, m ixed and heavy haul railways and since 1987 this has been the subject of a research programme of the European Rail Research Institute, Utrec ht. The objectives of the programme are to develop an improved underst anding of the rolling contact fatigue problem and the means of control ling or eliminating it. The programme has covered a broad range of act ivities including reviews, theoretical analyses, laboratory and track experiments. The programme is managed by the ERRI D173 Committee and h as involved the collaboration of 11 railway authorities, 7 rail makers and 5 universities. This paper presents a state of the art review of the research programme and some of the observations so far.