An interesting paper published in Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis, Volume 1, Issue 4, October 2013.

In this case study, a failed railway rail which was used for heavy cargo trains was investigated in order to find out its root cause. The crack is supposed to be initiated from the weaker ferrite networks. Given all of that, the failed railway rail is considered to be caused by overload. It is of great importance to improve the welding technology, and control the load of train in order to prevent similar failure in future.

Source : A failure study of the railway rail serviced for heavy cargo trains