The invention discloses a brake control unit for a railway vehicle. The brake control unit comprises a brake control part and an axle non-rotation detection part which are electrically independent of each other. The brake control part comprises a pneumatic brake control unit, a wheel sliding protection unit, an MVB network communication port and a serial port communication port. The axle non-rotation detection part comprises an axle speed anomaly detection unit, an MVB network communication port and a serial port communication port. The pneumatic brake control unit can conduct brake instruction receiving, brake force calculating, EP current control, EP current lag compensation control and the like. The wheel sliding protection module can conduct sliding and locking detection, sliding prevention and locking prevention control, tread sweeping control and ATC axle sliding state output. The axle speed anomaly detection unit judges whether a certain axle is locked or not or whether the speed of the axle is abnormal or not. The independent axle non-rotation detection part is arranged in the brake control unit, and therefore the working current of a speed sensor can be independently monitored and reported to a vehicle diagnosis device, and the safety level of the brake control unit is increased.