PAPER

Analysis of Damaged Rail W

eld
Weld
Yoshihiro TERASHIT
A
Mitsumasa T
ATSUMI
TERASHITA
TA
Researcher,
Assistant Senior Researcher,
Rail welding, Track Technology Div.
Four welding methods are used for rail welding in Japan. In the last 17 years, over
100 welds were damaged, of which those welded by the thermite welding method and the
enclosed arc welding method account for about 70%. This report describes the analysis
results of the forms and causes of damaged rail welds. We believe that these analytical
results will contribute to the improvement of the reliability of rail welds in the future.
Keywords : rail welding, rail failure, transverse fissure, horizontal fissure web, inspection

1. Introduction
In recent years, the number of damaged rail welds
tends to have decreased every year because the reliability of rail welds has increased by the improvement of
welding procedure, inspection technique and the application of suitable criteria for soundness evaluation of
welds. However, discontinuities that cause rail failure
accidents can not be excluded even now. Therefore, we
have to review the present situation of damaged rail
welds.
This report describes the analysis results of the forms
and causes of damaged rail welds from 1985 to 2001.

Number of damage

20
FBW
GPW
EAW
TW

15

10

0
'85

'90

'95

'00

Year

2. Analysis results of damaged rail welds

Fig. 1 T
ransition of the number of damaged rail welds
Transition

Table 1 shows the number of damaged rail welds in

each welding method. In total, 121 rail welds failed, of
which injury of thermite welds was the most frequent of
each welding method. When adverse consumables and/
or conditions are applied, a large discontinuity is easily
formed in thermite welding, compared with other welding methods. This large discontinuity easily causes failure of rail weld.
Figure 1 shows the transition of the number of damaged rail welds. The number of damaged rail welds had
been less than five until 1989, but increased since the
establishment of Japan Railway companies (JR group)
in 1987, and the number of damaged rail welds reached
16 in 1996. These numbers do not show all damaged
rail welds, however it is thought that the majority of
damaged rail welds is included. The number of damTable 1

Number of damaged rail welds in each welding

method
Welding method

Thermite welding (TW)

Enclosed arc welding (EAW)
Gas pressure welding (GPW)
Flash batt welding (FBW)
Total

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003

Number
53
35
21
12
121

100
90

Frequency of rail welding

103

2.1 Number of rail welding and damaged welds

80

EAW

70

FBW

60
50

GPW

40
30
20

TW

10
0

'90

'95

'00

Year

Fig. 2 T
ransition of frequency of rail welding
Transition
aged rail welds in thermite welds (TW) has especially increased since 1990. This can be understood through the
frequency of rail welding.
Figure 2 shows the transition of the frequency of rail
welding in JR group since 1987. The frequency of thermite welding increased every year between 1987 and
1997. Then the frequency of thermite welding in each
welding method has been higher than that of gas pressure welding since 1994. Thermite welds seem to have
increased because the thermite welding method was applied to fabrication of continuous welded rails on site,

59

instead of standard length rails with fishplates in conventional lines of JR. It is also recognized that the thermite welding method has a good workability and mobility in recent years. In these few years, the frequency of
rail welding tends to have decreased, because laying continuous welded rails in main lines has almost been accomplished. However, the frequencies of flash butt and
enclosed arc welding have been almost the same in these
ten years. On the other hand, the frequency of gas pressure welding has decreased every year because of the
decrease of factory welding and application of thermite
welding as a track-side welding.
As shown in Fig. 2, the frequency of rail welding has
decreased since 1997. However, it is thought that the
frequency of rail welding will not rapidly decline, because there will constantly be rail renewals and repairs
in the future.
2.2 Form of damage
Figure 3 shows the forms of damaged rail welds. The
forms of damaged rail welds are mainly classified into
two, transverse and horizontal fissures. The transverse
fissure is classified into three, that of rail head, web and
base, depending on the fracture initiation point. The
horizontal fissure occurs only in the rail web. It is clear
in Fig. 3 that transverse fissure accounts for approximately 90%, and about half the damaged rail welds is
due to the transverse fissure initiated in the rail base.
Figure 4 shows the damaged form in each welding

Horizontal Transverse
fissure at
fissure
head
11%
18%

Transverse
fissure at
base
55%

method. The damaged form is different in each welding

method. In thermite and gas pressure welds, the ratio
of transverse fissure initiated in the rail base is large.
However the number of transverse fissures initiated in
the rail head is larger than that in the rail base in enclosed arc welds. On the other hand, half of the damaged flash butt welds suffered horizontal fissures initiated in the rail web. Transverse fissures at the rail head
in thermite welds and horizontal fissures at the rail web
in enclosed arc welds have never occurred.
2.3 Service life of damaged rail welds
Figure 5 shows the accumulative passing tonnage of
damaged rail welds. Most of damaged thermite welds
occurred at an early stage before 10 MGT (Million metric
Gross Ton). On the other hand, most of damaged enclosed
arc welds are damaged at the accumulative passing tonnage over 100 MGT. There are no specific features in the
damaged gas pressure or flash butt welds which correspond to the accumulative passing tonnage.
2.4 Damage occurrence time
Figure 6 shows the time when rail welds are damaged. Irrespective of the welding method occurrence of
rail weld damage tends to concentrate in winter, especially in November to February. It is thought that the
increase of axial force in rail, owing to temperature decrease, affects the damage of rail weld, because most of

10 MGT
10 MGT 50 MGT
50 MGT100 MGT
100 MGT200 MGT
200 MGT
Unknow

Number of damage

25

Transverse
fissure at
web
16%

20
15
10
5
0
TW

EAW

GPW

FBW

Fig. 5 Passing tonnage until the occurrence of damage

30
FBW
GPW
EAW
TW

25

50

Horizonta fissure

40

Transverse fissure at head

Transverse fissure at web

30

Transverse fissure at base

20

Number of damage

Number of damage

Fig. 3 Forms of damaged rail welds

20
15
10
5

10

0
1

0
TW

EAW

GPW

FBW

Fig. 4 Damaged forms in each welding method

60

6
7
Month

10

11

12

Fig. 6 Damage occurrence time in rail weld

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003

3. Cause of damage in each welding method

3.1 Thermite welding
The thermite welding method is widely applied as
an in-track welding method to the conventional lines of
JR. This method accounts for approximately 40% of rail
welding ratio at present in the JR group. However, at
the time when thermite welding method was introduced,
large welding discontinuities were easily formed in thermite welds, compared with other welding methods.
Therefore, the number of damaged rail welds of thermite welding was larger than that of other methods.
Figure 7 shows classification of forms and causes of
damaged thermite welds. In total, 73% of damaged thermite welds are in the form of transverse fissure initiated in the rail base. Welding discontinuities, that cause
a transverse fissure in the rail base, are mainly "lack of
fusion (no fusion between weld metal and rail)" and
"centerline shrinkage (crack occurred by rail movement
during solidification)." As the other causes of transverse
fissure in the rail base, there are "porosity (a lot of large
blow holes in the weld metal caused by bad welding
material)" and "stress concentration (excess reinforcement of the rail base in old type thermite weld)."
Most of the transverse fissures in the rail web are
caused by "solder cracks" occurred when a remaining part
of solder for rail bond connection was reheated. Transverse fissures by solder cracks account for about 20% of
the whole. On the other hand, horizontal fissures caused
by "blow (addition of impact stress)" and "pit (blowhole
on the surface of weld metal)" rarely occur in the rail
web.
Figure 8 shows the transition of the number of damaged thermite welds. In Fig. 8, the horizontal axis means
the year when the rail was welded. On the other hand,
the horizontal axis in Fig. 1 is the year when damaged
rail welds occurred. Thermite welds generated in 1985,

Horizontal fissure
8%

'85

'90

20

Lack of fusion

Center-line
shrinkage

Porosity
Horizontal fissure
Solder cracking
Centreline shrinkage
Lack of fusion

1997 and 2000 haven't been damaged up to the present.

In the other years, however one to eight damages occurred in thermite welds.
Many damages by lack of fusion occurred at thermite welds generated between 1989 and 1993. However,
no damages by lack of fusion have ever occurred since
1994. It is thought that this was because the double
probe technique of ultrasonic inspection was recommended for the rail base just after welding1). This double
probe technique at the rail base has been applied in most
JR groups since 1997. Therefore, the number of damaged thermite welds tends to have decreased as shown
in Fig. 8.
On the other hand, damages by centerline shrinkage have occurred every year, while the total damage
number is tending to decrease. Those by the centerline
shrinkage occurred where no inspection by the double
probe technique was performed before the first train
passage. Therefore, if the inspection by the double probe
technique could be performed to detect the centerline
shrinkage, it is thought that these damages could be
prevented.
Figure 9 shows installation periods of damaged thermite welds. In thermite welds, early stage damages accounts for 61% within two years after installation. The
early stage damages are caused by the centerline shrinkage, lack of fusion, solder cracks and porosity. Among
these, damages by the centerline shrinkage accounts for
57% within one month after installation, because the size

Pit Blow
Solder
crack

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0

'95
'00
Welding year
Fig. 8 T
ransition of number of damaged thermite welds
Transition

Stress
concentration
Porosity

Transverse
fissure at base
73%
Fig. 7 Forms and causes of damaged thermite welds

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003

Number of damage

Transverse
fissure at web
19%

Number of damage

damaged rail welds are in the form of transverse fissure

as shown in Fig. 3.

Blow
Polisity
Steress concenration
Pit
Solder crack
Centerline shrinkage
Lack of fusion

15
10
5
0
<1 month

<2 years

<5 years

>5years

Fig. 9 Installed period when damage occurs

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3.2 Enclosed arc welding

Transverse
fissure at web
9%

Liquation
crack

Lack of
fusion
Solidificasion
crack
Transverse
fissure at head
51%
Fig. 10 Forms and causes of damaged enclosed arc welds

: Liquation crack

: Lack of fusion

: Solidification crack

(a) 50kgN
(b) 60kg
Fig. 1
1 Existing position of discontinuities as initiation
11
points of damage

62

Liquation crack

10

Lack of fusion

15
20
25
30
35

Figure 10 shows classification of forms and causes

of damaged enclosed arc welds, and Fig. 11 shows the
existing positions of welding discontinuities as initiation points of damages. Enclosed arc welds are damaged by fatigue failure. Initiations of fatigue cracks are
"liquation crack (hot crack in heat affected zone)", "solidification crack (hot crack in weld metal)" and "lack of
fusion." As shown in Figs. 10 and 11, all transverse fissures in the rail web initiate by liquation cracks, and all
transverse fissures in the rail base initiate by lack of
fusion.
The main cause of formation of lack of fusion in the
rail base is narrow root opening. Moreover, magnetic
arc blow is one of the factors to produce a bad weld in

Transverse
fissure at base
40%

Depth from running surface (mm)

of centerline shrinkage is generally very large. On the

other hand, the installation period, in which damages
by lack of fusion occur, depends on the size of discontinuity. In the lack of fusion of small size, the form of
damage is the failure with fatigue cracks. In this case,
the installation period to result in a damage becomes
longer. However, damages by the centerline shrinkage
and solder cracks have never occurred with fatigue
cracks.

10

20

50

100

Defect sizediameter mm

Fig. 12 Relationship between defect position and defect

size in rail head
installed rails. However, this is an inevitable factor. Most
of transverse fissures in the rail head are generating liquation cracks and/or lack of fusion as initiation points of
damage. The damage by solidification cracks rarely occurred in high carbon enclosed arc weld metals applied
to high carbon covered electrode.
Figure 12 shows the relationship between the defect
position and defect size that constituted a damage initiation point in transverse fissures on the rail head. As
shown in Fig. 12, the initiation points concentrate on
the rail head in an area of less than 15mm under the
running surface. Welding discontinuities that exist in
this area are mainly liquation cracks. However, welding discontinuities that exist in the area of over 15mm
under the running surface are only lack of fusion. Moreover, the size of discontinuity of damage initiation point
is 1.5 to 6 mm in diameter in the area of less than 15mm
under the running surface, and 5 to 25 mm in diameter
in the area of over 15mm under the running surface.
Therefore, it is thought that the criteria of soundness
evaluation in the rail head of enclosed arc weld have to
be taken into consideration 2).
3.3 Gas pressure welding
Figure 13 shows classification of forms and causes
of damaged in gas pressure welds. In gas pressure welds,
the transverse fissures in the rail base accounts for 57%
and the failure in the rail web is 38%. The ratio of failure in the rail web is larger than that in the head.
Damages of transverse fissure in the rail base caused
by "trimming cracks" and "repair" account for more than
90%. The "trimming crack" is a kind of hot crack, and
occurs at the weld interface. If the metallic bonding
strength is low, the interface is not able to endure the
stress caused by plastic deformation in the trimming
process just after welding 3). The "repair" means the remained discontinuity in spite of the execution of welding in order to repair the discontinuity.
Damages of horizontal fissure in the rail web were
caused by a lot of minute cracks from overheating, the
high tensile residual stress and the addition of impact
stress by hammer blow. On the other hand, it is thought
that damages of transverse fissures in the rail web are
caused by high tensile residual stress and corrosion of
welded part.

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003

4. Prevention of damaged rail weld

Inclusion
Residual stress
blow
Over heat

Trimming
crack

Residual stress

corrosion

Horizontal
fissure
Non joint
14%

Fig. 13

Repair

Transverse
fissure at base
57%

Forms and causes of damages in gas pressure

welds

3.4 Flash butt welding

Figure 14 shows classification forms and causes of
damaged flash butt welds. Horizontal fissures in flash
butt welds accounts for 50%. Most of rail web failures
are caused by "solder cracks" like the thermite weld
shown in Fig.7.
A transverse fissure in the rail web is caused by a
striking blow in some track work at a welding discontinuity. On the other hand, all damage of transverse fissure in the rail head were developed by fatigue cracks
initiated at the "flat spot" that was caused by oxide inclusions. Moreover, it is thought that the tensile residual
stress affected these damages. Transverse fissures in
the rail base were caused by "arc strikes" between electrode tip and rail base.

Some countermeasures have been taken in order to

prevent rail weld failure. As mentioned above, the double
probe technique in ultrasonic inspection has been proposed for the rail base of thermite and enclosed arc welds
since 1992. This technique has been applied by most of
JR companies since 1997. Figure 15 shows the transition of the number of damaged rail welds based on the
welding year. It is clear in Fig. 15 that the numbers of
the damaged welds have decreased substantially.
Concerning thermite welding procedures, welding
conditions such as preheating were improved. Moreover,
suppliers of thermite welding materials have been performing chemical analysis of weld metal and slow bending tests by using actual rail welds for every lot in order
to control the quality of imported materials. Accordingly,
the reliability of thermite welds has improved by the
improvement of the procedure and materials.
Concerning gas pressure welding, a heating burner
has been newly developed4). The feature of this burner
is that it allows a small gap at butted end surface concerning joint performance. The application of the new
burner can realize the skill-free welding operation in
order to prevent the occurrence of trimming cracks
caused by oxidation at interface.
15

Number of damage

Transverse
fissure at head
5%

Transverse
fissure at web
24%

FBW
GPW
EAW
TW

10

0
'85

'90

'95

'00

Welding year

Fig. 15 T
ransition of the number of damaged rail welds
Transition

Transverse
fissure at base
17%

5. Conclusions

Arc-strike
Solder
crack

Transverse
fissure at head
25%

Flat-spot
Blow Trimming
crack

Horizontal
fissure
50%

Transverse
fissure at web
8%
Fig. 14 Forms and causes of damaged flash butt welds

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003

The forms and causes of damaged rail welds were

investigated. The results obtained are as follows:
(1) The number of damaged rail welds that were investigated at RTRI is 121 between 1985 and 2001.
(2) Injury of thermite welds is the most frequent in each
welding method. The ratio of damages by thermite
and enclosed arc welds accounts for about 70% of the
whole.
(3) The form of damage is mainly the transverse fissure,
and this ratio accounts for 90% of the whole. Over
50% of total damage are the transverse fissure initiated in the rail base.
(4) At present, the transverse fissure at the rail head in
thermite welds and the horizontal fissure at the rail
web in enclosed arc welds have never occurred.
(5) Most of damaged thermite welds are the early stage

63

damages before 10 MGT. On the other hand, most of

damaged enclosed arc welds are damaged at the accumulative passing tonnage over 100 MGT.
(6) In thermite welds, welding discontinuities, that cause
transverse fissures in the rail base, are mainly "lack
of fusion" and "centerline shrinkage." On the other
hand, most of transverse fissures in the rail web are
caused by "solder cracks."
(7) The enclosed arc welds are damaged by fatigue failure. Initiation of fatigue cracks is "liquation crack"
and "lack of fusion." On the other hand, all transverse fissures in the rail base are initiated by lack of
fusion.
(8) At gas pressure welds, damages of transverse fissure
in the rail base are mainly caused by "trimming
cracks" and "repair." On the other hand, in flash butt
welds, most of rail web failures caused by "solder
crack," and all damage of transverse fissure in the
rail head was developed by fatigue cracks initiated
at "flat spot."

64

References
1) Tatsumi, M., Ueyama, K., Yamamoto, R. and Kudou,
S.:"Ultrasonic Inspection for Serious Defects on Fusion Welds of Rail (in Japanese)," RTRI Report, Vol.9,
No.12, pp.43 48, 1995.
2) Tatsumi, M., Shitara, H., Fukada, Y., Sakashita, T.,
Yamamoto, R. and Ueyama, K.:"Criteria of Soundness Evaluation on Enclosed Arc Welds of Rails (in
Japanese)," RTRI Report, Vol.14, No.4, pp.37 42,
2000.
3) Ya m a m o t o , R . , F u k a d a , Y. , U e y a m a , K . a n d
Oishibashi, H.:"Gas Pressure Welding Method for
steel Reinforcing Bars, " Welding Journal, Vol.77,
No.5, pp.188 192, 1998.
4) Tatsumi, M., Fukada, Y., Ueyama, K. and Yamamoto,
R.:"Improvement of Gas Pressure Welding for Rail (in
Japanese)," RTRI Report, Vol.13, No.5, pp.27 32,
1999.

QR of RTRI, Vol. 44, No. 2, May. 2003