This paper reports on a series of tests which were carried out on full-scale sections of rail that
had been treated by laser cladding aiming to create a layer (~1-2mm) of high performance
material on the rail head. Experiments were designed to measure wear, lipping of insulated
block joints (IBJs) and bending fatigue of clad samples. The wear rate of the clad samples was
between 78- 89% lower than that of the standard R260 reference sample. Cladding of either
side of an insulated block joint greatly improves its lipping resistance and allows it to withstand
approximately 3 times the energy input into the contact compared to a standard un-clad IBJ. A
section of rail clad with martensitic stainless steel was subject to bend fatigue testing and ran
out to 5,000,000 cycles at a stress range of 350 MPa matching the performance of an unclad
R260 rail. Although there is no standard for the bend testing of laser clad rail this performance
exceeds the performance requirements of the NR/SP/TRK111 standard which governs the bend
testing of flash but welded rail
