The current status of theory and practice on rail integrity in Japanese railways—rolling contact fatigue and corrugations

The paper describes the Japanese understanding and practice with regard to wheel rail interface problems and their management. Rolling contact fatigue, especially squat defects, grinding, corrugations and lubrication, have been considered. The understanding has been developed through a combination of theoretical modeling, laboratory‐based experiments and field trials. Measures have been introduced to mitigate the detrimental effects of these problems and are resulting in benefits to the Japanese railway companies. However, more work is required to better understand wheel rail interface problems and to provide effective solutions.