To provide a power converter for a railway vehicle that achieves improvement in cooling performance without significantly reducing protection performance against flying stones.

The power converter for a railway vehicle is configured such that the power converter is equipped with a cooler which is suspended under the floor of a vehicle body of a railway vehicle, and comprises a semiconductor element, a heat-receiving part in which the semiconductor element is mounted onto one surface, and radiating fins mounted onto the other surface of the heat-receiving part. A part of the cooler is housed in a casing of the power converter for a railway vehicle. Power is converted by switching of the semiconductor element. A flying-stone protection means is provided near the cooler so as to prevent flying stones from colliding with the cooler. The flying-stone protection means is not provided at least in a part of the face approximately facing the other surface of the heat-receiving part onto which the radiating fins are mounted.