Objective With the rapid development of Chinese railway transportation towards high-speed, heavy-duty, low energy consumption direction, the load wheel-rail of high-speed train resisted is increasing significantly. The aim of this work was to study the impact of wheel material properties (elastic modulus, Poisson ratio) on wheel-rail contact stress for CRH3 high-speed EMU, which has an important practical significance and application value for ensuring the safety, reliability and comfort of train. Methods S1002 tread wheelset and 60 kg/ m rail were employed. Firstly, the basic assumption was made for the wheel-rail contact model. Secondly, calculation processes of model parameters, cell selection and grid classification were described. Thirdly, the elasticplastic theory and finite element software ANSYS were adopted to analyze the wheel-rail contact stress. Results When the elastic moduli of wheel material were 124, 165, 206, 247, 288 GPa, respectively, the corresponding maximum Mises stress values were as follows: 315. 451, 370. 458, 435. 498, 500. 274, 554. 604 MPa, and the maximum contact stress values were as follows: 669. 264, 802. 328, 920. 832, 1033. 87, 1135. 19 MPa; while poisson’s ratios of wheel material were 0. 18, 0. 24, 0. 30, 0. 36, 0. 42, respectively, the corresponding maximum Mises stress values were as follows: 468. 035, 450. 601, 435. 498, 422. 587, 415. 412 MPa, and the maximum contact stress values were as follows: 903. 068, 911. 168, 920. 832, 936. 339, 961. 234 MPa. Conclusion The elastic modulus of wheel material had a pronounced impact on the wheel-rail contact stress, and it had a positive correlation with the maximal Mises stress and contact stress. Poisson ration of material had a certain but not obvious influence on the wheel-rail contact stress.