Patent ID: 7520415

Claim:
A method of repairing a metal rail, which rail includes head, upright web and base sections, said method comprising the steps of: a) identifying and locating a defect in the metal rail; b) removing the defect from the metal rail by removing the defect and metal material surrounding the defect, so as to expose parent metal of said rail in opposed, substantially parallel walls and a floor extending therebetween, form a void and a rail-void interface at said walls and floor, while maintaining continuity of the base and at least a portion of the web of the metal rail; c) filling the void with molten metal; and d) causing the molten metal and the metal rail at the rail-void interface to bond by fusion of said molten metal to said parent metal when said molten metal and rail are at a sufficiently elevated temperature to enable fusion, wherein, the void is filled with molten metal by arc welding, the void is filled using gas shielded arc welding, a high carbon welding electrode is used to fill in the void, the carbon percentage in the welding electrode is from, by weight, about 0.1% to about 1.2% carbon and the high carbon welding electrode produces a weld deposit from, by weight, about 0.2% to about 1.0% carbon, from about 1.8% to about 2.0% manganese, from about 0.5% to about 0.6% nickel and from about 0.5% to about 0.95% silicon.