AbstractInvestigations of railway wagons fitted with rolling‐element bearings have shown damage to the bearings from the passage of electric current. This also occurs in railway wagons without an electric energy consumption of their own, because of residual currents from electric locomotives. This phenomenon gives rise to technical, financial, and even safety problems. This paper reviews research in the field of rolling‐element bearings exposed to electric currents. The paper also reports on an ongoing study undertaken to understand the mechanism of current flow and the role of lubricants in the associated damage, and to identify the possibilities of minimising bearing damage. The obvious solution to this problem is to use optimised greases, i.e., with high electrical conductivity and good lubricating ability.In the preliminary work reported here a number of greases for railway use were tested to determine their electrical conductivity in static and dynamic situations. These tests were performed using specially designed apparatus, and significant initial information about the electrical properties of greases has been obtained in this research, for example, that there is a correlation between the electrical conductance under static and dynamic conditions. All the greases tested showed comparatively high resistivity values, which could be one explanation for the bearing damage observed.