Some comments on mechanical fatigue characterization of steel rails in Standards

Current Standards and recommendations on characterization of steel materials for rail production define tests for material supplying. As reported in technical literature, fatigue is the phenomenon which represent one of the main cause of rail damage and failure. Experimental testing of fatigue characterization according to Standards on different samples and with different surface roughness values, satisfying the Standard requirements, are performed. The results are then presented and discussed. Some nomenclature ambiguities are pointed out, which can lead to different loading conditions for fatigue testing.