Rolling contact fatigue on the British railway system: treatment

In the late 1990s, rolling contact fatigue was a widespread and severe, but greatly underestimated, problem on the British railway system. In the period 1999–2000, the basis for a system of preventative maintenance of rails was nevertheless established. Preventative maintenance has been greatly accelerated by the tragic and fatal derailment of a passenger train in October 2000. Rail grinding and lubrication are the widely accepted and basic components of the strategy, the details of which are still being developed.