The article presents the results of tests of the installation batch of railway brake pads, taking into account the modern requirements of railway transport for safety in conditions of increased speeds and increased load capacity. The value of the friction coefficient of the pad on the wheel steel was used as the main criterion in the analysis for the development of solutions. The main indicators characterizing the operational properties of the pads are the speed of movement of the rolling stock and the force of pressing the pads on the wheel steel. Experimental dependences of the value of the coefficient of friction on the production parameters of the rolling stock with a change in the compressive strength of the composite layer are established. A nomogram has been developed to determine operational indicators, which allows solving two tasks: – operational, allowing for a given value of the maximum speed of the rolling stock and the strength properties of the pad to set the force of normal pressure on the wheel and the corresponding value of the coefficient of friction. – technical, which consists in setting the maximum pressure velocity of the rolling stock depending on the value of the normal pressure on the block and its strength properties.