When Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) introduced the High Speed Electrical Train System (ETS) in 2013, the fracture toughness of the railway rail remains relatively unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture toughness of rail steel. The rail steel specimen was prepared according to ASTM E1820 and cut using electrical discharge machining (EDM) wire cut process. The specimen was pre-cracked using Biss Fatigue Machine to obtain a relatively accurate results followed by three point bend testing under Universal Testing Machine (UTM), in accordance to the standard of ASTM E1820. The fractured crack tip was then observed using an optical microscope. From the three point bend test, the fracture toughness was calculated and the behaviour of the steel failing was then studied and compared to previous studies. The fracture toughness of the steel was found to be 44.009 MPa√m, which is within the range of the various rail steels used around the world..
