The acceleration data in crash test of railway vehicles is an important reference for evaluating the crashworthiness of vehicles. Because of the large mass and stiffness of the rail vehicles, the acceleration waveform of railway vehicles crash test is different from that of car crash test. So it is necessary to carry out the type selection test for the crash acceleration sensor of rail vehicles. By comparing the acceleration sensor data with different damping coefficients and different ranges in the same batch of tests, an acceleration sensor suitable for the crash test of rail vehicles was obtained. The experimental results showed that the acceleration sensor with damping coefficient around 0.4-0.8 and range around 1 000,g, -2 000,g, was more suitable for the railway vehicle crash test.