Keywords: flange climb derailment, anti-derailment guards, crosswinds, simulations, multibody dynamics, estimated derailment coefficient ratio, curve radius, cant amount, cant gradient, running speed.

Ensuring the stability of railway vehicles under hazardous conditions such as strong crosswinds is critical for maintaining operational safety and reliability. Among the various countermeasures, anti-derailment guards play an important role in reducing the risk of flange climb derailment. Current installation standards for these guards are primarily determined quantitatively based on the estimated derailment coefficient ratio in Japan. However, these standards do not incorporate the influence of crosswinds, which can significantly alter wheel–rail interaction and increase derailment risk. This study evaluates the effects of crosswinds on flange climb derailments in curved track sections where the estimated derailment coefficient ratio slightly exceeds 1.2—just short of meeting the derailment guard installation standards—to investigate the impact of crosswinds on these installation standards. To achieve this, we conduct simulations using a multibody dynamics model that replicates running tests under crosswind conditions. The results confirmed that the derailment coefficient on the outer rail side of the curve increased, and that the wheel contact point shifted closer to the flange position. These findings indicate that installing anti-derailment guards is important in strong crosswind environments, particularly under track conditions where the estimated derailment coefficient ratio slightly exceeds 1.2.

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