Rail defects head checking on the Serbian railways

The rail defects due to rolling contact fatigue represent serious safety hazard for rail traffic all around the world. That hazard is more distinct on railways without adequate maintenance strategy, with the increase of wheel/rail contact stresses and with decreasing wear of rail steel. This paper analyses the example of sporadically conducted maintenance and its negative consequence -the appearance of head checking (HC) rail defect on the Serbian Railways. The research of the HC defects was performed by using the visual inspection of rails in service and eddy current testing in the laboratory. The paper points out the importance of early detection of the HC rail defects for the effective defects management of rails in service. It researches the real limits of non-destructive methods for detecting HC defects in track. Combining several non-destructive testing methods is recommended for efficient rail inspection