620.172.25/625.143 and N. Ya. OpravkhataWe present the results of investigations into the influence of high-density electric current pulses on the mechanical characteristics of rail steels in the initial state and after a long in-service operating time. The effect of in-service loading conditions and modes of exposure to electric current pulses on the steel mechanical properties and their anisotropy is shown.Introduction. In terms of freight and passenger traffic volumes, railway transport occupies one of the first places in many countries of the world, including Ukraine. Recently, the strategy of railway transportation system development is aimed at increasing the traffic volume due to a decrease in the time interval between trains, an increase in the total weight of trains and their movement speed, the comfort and safety of passenger traffic. For this purpose, rapid transit railroads and new types of rolling stock are introduced.As a result of an increase in the weight of trains and their motion velocity, the levels of mechanical loads on track structure and the density of propulsion currents supplied by electric locomotives increase. The railroad bed operates under conditions of a complex stress state: it undergoes the action of vertical and horizontal forces exerted by the rolling stock, longitudinal traction forces exerted by driving wheels of an electric locomotive and braking forces, longitudinal tensile and compressive forces induced by the temperature variation relative to the rail length fixing temperature [1,2]. In many ways, the standard mode of operation of the rail transport depends on the ability of heavily-loaded structural elements of track structure to resist deformation and fracture, their continuous interaction with the rolling stock, the life and reliability of these elements during the whole period of operation. A structural feature of the electrified railway transport that separates it into a single category of electric energy suppliers is the method of supplying current to the rolling stock. The electric systems that provide power supply of the rolling stock, alarm signaling and traffic safety control are integrated with rail tracks and are terminated in the zone of interaction of the wheel-rail contact pair. Under the action of high-level operating mechanical loads and high densities of electric current, the railhead material in small areas operates under special extreme conditions [3].Numerous investigations on the assessment of the effect of the electromagnetic control on the mechanical properties of metallic materials of different grades [4,5] show that the action of electric current can change them considerably. The earlier [6] analysis of literature data on the mechanical behavior of the railway track, the level and modes of the electric influence on rails enables one to state that the conditions of their operation correspond to those under which the electroplastic deformation is possible [5]. The investigation of the rail material behavior under the action of the electric curren...