Selection of Rail Types for High-Speed Railway and Heavy-Haul Railway

The test conditions for different experimenters of rail steel were analyzed from the point of view on the influenced factors to fatigue crack expansion growth rate. The results show that, to a certain degree, the test conditions (such as test temperature and stress ratio) have certain uniformity. Based on these, the analysis of differences on the fatigue crack growth rates obtained the different experimenters for same rail steel was carried. The distributions characteristic and discrete of these fatigue crack growth rates were obtained. The fatigue crack growth parameters for each rail steel were fitted. Combining the comparison on fatigue crack growth toughness of different kinds of rail steel, the paper determines the suitable for heavy rail and high-speed rail steels. The results show that the 1100 level of online heat-treated steel is suitable for high-speed railway and bainitic steel is suitable for heavy-haul railway. Rail is an important component of railway track structure, which directly bears the enormous pressure from the wheel. Under the condition of enormous pressure, the rail material has a great impact on the performance of the rail use. At present, Because of the wide variety of rail, the problem of how to choose suitable types of rail according to the characteristics of high-speed railway and heavy-haul railway is to be an in-depth study. With the increasing of train speed and axle load, the trend of rail failure is increasing; especially the increasing of rolling contact fatigue cracks (Chen, 2008, Xi, 2005). Rolling contact fatigue cracks propagate transverse cracks, and propagation of transverse cracks decreases the rail area and increases the concentration of stress, which is easily leading to broken rails. The properties of the growth rate of transverse crack have a great impact on the safe use of rails. The paper provides a basis for the selection of rail for the high-speed railway and heavy-haul railway according to their different requirements by analyzing the disparity of the growth rate of transverse cracks for different kinds of rails.