To assess the wear behavior of rails against subway rail car wheels, we investigate the sliding wear behavior of pins derived from two types of rails (normal rails and heat-treated rails) against a disc derived from a subway rail car wheel, using a pin-on-disc-type tribometer. We base the sliding wear test conditions on the sliding conditions for wheel flange-rail gauge corner contact. We demonstrate the remarkable transition in the wear behavior of the pins derived from the rails, from severe wear to mild wear, as a function of the sliding distance. The wear rate of the heat-treated rail material in the running-in wear region is much lower than that of the normal rail material. Furthermore, the wear rates of the pins in the running-in wear region decrease with increasing hardness and with decreasing sliding speed. However, there is little difference between the heat-treated rail pin and the normal rail pin in the wear rate in the steady-state wear region. Stricter controls on the decarburized layer beneath the surface of rails are required to reduce the wear rate in the running-in wear region.