Correlation between laboratory ball-on-disk and full-scale rail performance tests

► In this work is presented a detailed comparison between laboratory ball-on-disk and a full-scale rail experiments to compare the wear and cracking propensity on premium rails. ► A new algorithm/methodology to correlate the results of the ball-on-disk/pure sliding wear test with the results of the full scale rail test is proposed and successfully demonstrated. ► The ball-on-disk/pure sliding test is a simplified approach that can be used to qualitatively assess rail wear, workhardening ability and crack propensity. The results of the ball-on-disk and full scale tests are in agreement.