“…There are two major causes behind initiation and development of wheel tread local defects: thermal cracking and rolling contact fatigue (RCF) [6]. Several factors, such as speed, axle load, wheel-rail adhesion, wheel material and braking conditions, also have some effects on deterioration rates of wheel tread [7]. In HSR operation, wheel wear rate can increase quickly due to the high operation speed, high stiffness track, wide wheel-rail impact frequency, intense vibrations and high speed flow [5,7,8].…”