When trains run over a snow-covered track at high speed, lumps of accreted snow/ice dropped from cars scatter ballast stones on the track damaging the car body and the environment along the track in snowy regions of Japan. To clarify the dynamic behavior of ballast stones at the time of colliding with a lump of snow/ice, reproductive tests of ballast-flying phenomenon were carried out using an air cannon. Consequently, the number of flown-up stones was found to depend strongly on the collision speed when the mass of snow/ice was not less than 2 kg. The ballast-flying mechanism was discussed on the basis of the obtained speed data of flown-up stones.

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