Abstract: The rolling friction wear performance of ER8 high-speed railway wheel steel samples with different surface roughness was investigated by using the GPM-30 rolling contact fatigue tester and the wear performance was evaluated by analyzing the steady-state average friction coefficient, calculating the wear rate, and observing the surface appearance of the samples. The results show that the greater the surface roughness of the sample, the greater the steady-state mean coefficient of friction. The steady-state average friction coefficient of the sample with a surface roughness of 1.726 μm is 0.31, while the steady-state average friction coefficients of the samples with a surface roughness of 0.997 μm, 0.177 μm and 0.025 μm are 0.29, 0.27 and 0.21 respectively. The sample wear rate is proportional to the surface roughness, the sample has the highest rate of 7.737×10^-6g/m when the surface roughness is 1.726 μm. The sample with a surface roughness of 1.726 μm has the most severe wear, with a large amount of flaking on the sample surface, while the sample with a surface roughness of 0.025 μm has a relatively smooth surface, with the most frictional oxides generate on the sample surface, and the sample friction process is influenced by the frictional reduction effect of the oxides, the friction coefficient is relatively small.