The side window of the operating cab of the existing ballast hopper car in China is limited by the spatial position,and the upper and lower pull-out structure is adopted.This paper summarizes the development process and structural form of the side window of the operating cab of the ballast hopper car,analyzes the causes of its application failure,and proposes a new side window design scheme,and completes the relevant test and application.The research results show that the structural design of the new side window can solve the problems of opening and closing stagnation and poor sealing performance of the side window of the existing ballast hopper car in practical application,meet the needs of the installation and transformation of the existing ballast hopper car,and have higher reliability and economy.