Rail re-profiling method and apparatus

A railway rail milling apparatus for milling at least a portion of a desired profile on a railway rail in situ, the apparatus comprising:

• a milling cutter including a cutter body comprising a cutter face, wherein the milling cutter is rotatable about a rotation axis and is positioned about the railway rail so as to mill a facet of the desired profile along the railway rail in situ;
• and
• a plurality of cutting inserts mounted around a periphery of the cutter face, each of the plurality of cutting inserts comprising a cutting edge extending a distance from the cutter face to engage and mill the facet on the railway rail, each cutting edge including two ends, wherein ends of the cutting edges define a circular ring comprising an inner radius, defined by inner ends of the cutting edges, and an outer radius, defined by outer ends of the cutting edges, as the milling cutter rotates about the rotation axis, and wherein the rotation axis is substantially perpendicular to a plane of the facet to be milled on the railway rail by the cutting inserts;
• wherein a distance between the rotation axis and a closer edge of the facet is less than a distance from the rotation axis to the inner radius of the circular ring;
• and
• wherein the rotation axis is offset from the facet to be milled on the railway rail by the cutting inserts.