To evaluate the fatigue life of jointed rails, it is necessary to clarify the stress field around fish bolt holes and an S-N curve of jointed rails. So, we carried out static loading tests in a laboratory, field tests to measure the stresses around the fish bolt holes, static stress analysis of jointed rails and bending fatigue tests rails with bolt holes. Based on the study results, we established a method to evaluate the fatigue life of the jointed rails. In this method, stresses are evaluated for several conditions of jointed rail, vehicle type, vehicle speed, wheel load and lateral force. The fatigue life is calculated by applying the stresses to the S-N curve.

Copyright (c) 2001 Railway Technical Research Institute