Damage often occurs on the surface of railway wheels due to wheel-rail contact fatigue. It should be removed before reaching wheel failure, because wheel failure can cause derailment with loss of life and property. The increase or decrease of the contact fatigue lift by the metal removal of the contact surface were investigated by many researchers, but they have not considered initial residual stress and traction force. The railway wheel has the initial residual stress formed during the manufacturing process, and the residual stress is changed by thermal stress induced by braking. The traction force and residual stress are operated on wheels of locomotive and electric motor vehicle. In this study, the effect of metal removal depth on the contact fatigue life for a railway wheel has been evaluated by applying lolling contact fatigue test. The effect of the traction force and metal removal on the contact fatigue life has been estimated by finite element analysis. It has been found that the initial residual stress determines the amount of metal removal depth if the traction coefficient is less than 0.15. If the traction coefficient is greater than 0.2, however, the amount of metal removal depth is independent on the intial residual stress.