This electrode was especially designed for surface welding on rails (e.g. tramways, industrial and coal railways). Further, it is suited for joint welding of unalloyed and low-alloyed steels with high-alloyed steels, cast steel types, for austenite-ferrite joints, for welding of steels with high carbon content and difficult-to-weld steels as well as austenitic hard-manganese steels, for welding of buffering layers and for wear-resistant surfacing in case of cold-hardening impact, pressure and rolling load. The weld metal is fully austenitic, corrosion-resistant, scale-resistant and can be cold-hardened up to a hardness of 350 HB.