Abstract
An analysis of foreign and domestic experience in improving traffic safety while extending the service life of rails and improving their interaction with the wheels of rolling stock shows that the working conditions of rails are much more difficult in curved sections of the track, especially in the outer thread, due to the intense impact of the ridges of the wheels of rolling stock on the lateral working. One of the reasons for the formation of contact fatigue stains on the lateral working surface of the rail head is the presence of tangential stresses that occur in the absence of perpendicular pressure of the wheel on the rail head. In addition, the movement of the wheels on the rails is accompanied by slippage, which appears due to the taper of the wheels and the occurrence of the wheel crest on the rail head. A typical case of the wheel crest running over the rail head is the movement of the crew along curved sections of the track. In this case, the guide axle runs over one of the wheels on the rail head. As a result, there is a transverse slip of the wheel on the rolling surface and friction forces between the wheel and the rail are appropriately oriented to the axes. These processes, enhanced by an increase in dynamic action, cause more intense damage to the rail heads by defects 11 in the curves, while defects mostly appear on the outer rail thread.