The most important wear mechanisms in the studied railroad are: Rolling Contact Fatigue (RCF) and abrasion due to rail grinding.

Practical use indexes were proposed to classify the rail wear rates (WR) as mild, (WR<0.06 mm/MTon), medium (0.06 mm/MTon<WR<0.2 mm/MTon) and severe (WR>0.2 mm/MTon).

The contribution of inadequate rail grinding to the overall material removal is significant since it causes defects that act as a source of preferential nucleation sites for new cracks.

The reprofiling procedures studied in this investigation produced a white layer with micro-cracks, which together with the strict grinding criteria used to control corrugation, explained the highest wear rates observed.

The corrugation frequencies are in the range between 100 and 250 Hz, which typically corresponds to the excitation of the vertical dynamic behavior of the vehicle/track system. The presence of valleys on welds was also observed after the analysis of the profiles.