Prediction of rail surface damage in locomotive traction operations using laboratory-field measured and calibrated data

•A simulation method for predicting rolling contact fatigue in railway systems.•A locomotive digital twin with mechatronic traction system co-simulation.•Calibrated shakedown maps using actual rail material mechanical properties.•Wheel-rail contact modelling with variable friction from field measurements.•Rolling contact fatigue hotspots discerning top of rail, gauge face and gauge corner.