%0 editorial %@ 0013-7944 %A Zerbst, U., Heyder, R., Girardi, L. %D 2009 %J Engineering Fracture Mechanics %N 17 %P 2561-2562 %R doi:10.1016/j.engfracmech.2009.09.010 %T Editorial: Foreword - Special Issue on the Damage Tolerance of Railway Rails %U https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2009.09.010 17 %X Rails, as the heart of the railway system, are subjected to very high service loads and harsh environmental conditions. Since any potential rail failure includes the risk of catastrophic derailment of vehicles, it is of paramount interest to avoid such a scenario. The papers of this special issue are focussed on various aspects of damage tolerance of rails such as the loading conditions, the phenomenology of fatigue crack initiation, propagation and failure, the modelling of crack initiation and early propagation by rolling contact fatigue, the modelling of the propagation of “long” cracks, of fracture and questions of maintenance and failure prevention.