TY - JOUR A1 - Cannon, D. F. A1 - Edel, Karl-Otto A1 - Grassie, S. L. A1 - Sawley, K. T1 - Rail defects: an overview T2 - In: Fatigue & Fracture of Engineering Materials & Structures Volume 26 (2003) 10, pp 865–886 N2 - For about 150 years, the steel rail has been at the very heart of the world's railway systems. The rail works in a harsh environment and, as part of the track structure, it has little redundancy; thus, its failure may lead to catastrophic derailment of vehicles, the consequences of which can include death, injury, costs and loss of public confidence. These can have devastating and long-lasting effects on the industry. Despite the advances being made in railway permanent way engineering, inspection and rail-making technology, continually increasing service demands have resulted in rail failure continuing to be a substantial economic burden and a threat to the safe operation of virtually every railway in the world. This paper presents an overview of rail defects and their consequences from the earliest days of railways to the present day. Y1 - 2014 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fhbrb/frontdoor/index/index/docId/683 SN - 8756-758X SP - 865 EP - 886 ER -