Experimental investigation on rail fatigue resistance of track/bridge interaction

•High frequency (20 Hz) bending fatigue tests on UIC60 rails have been carried out.•36 not-corroded and 12 corroded rails were tested up to five million load cycles.•The fatigue resistance reduces with the increase of corrosion.•A new Smith – diagram based on results of three load levels is proposed. This paper presents an experimental study on the flexural fatigue behavior of the typical high-speed rail profile 60E2 (UIC60) for five million load cycles. A resonant machine was applied to achieve a test program of different load levels with high loading frequency. This investigation focuses on the rail fatigue resistance under multiple minimum stress levels and different corrosion conditions. In comparison with historic investigations of rails for two million load cycles, this new rail profile shows better fatigue behavior even for 2.5 times more load cycles. In the end, a new Smith–diagram for five million load cycles is proposed.