Review on rail corrugation studies

In Japan, rail corrugations had not been so serious formerly, but it began to be prevailing in recent years. In order to prevent the generation of rail corrugation, many studies have been reported in the world since the end of 19th century, but theories on them have not explained the formation mechanism perfectly and no perfect countermeasures have been established so far. Thus, the studies on corrugation are getting more important, because generation of corrugation shows a tendency to increase due to the speed-up of trains, to the introduction of new vehicles, etc. In such a situation, three authors review the studies on them in the past and those carried out now in the world and more precisely in Japan. The review is on bibliographies, attempts in the 1970s, classification of rail corrugation, short-pitch corrugation and studies in Japan in recent years.