RETRACTED: Reliability analysis of fatigue crack growth for rail steel under variable amplitude service loading conditions and wear

•We present a new approach for fatigue reliability assessment for rail steel.•The maximum stress for rail in contact with a new/worn wheel profiles was obtained.•The stress history is used to calculate SIFs and fatigue reliability of rail steel.•Fatigue reliability is evaluated for each failure mode due to multiple cracks.•The results showed that the effect of wear on the fatigue reliability is remarkable.