The brake performance of sintered friction materials for the high speed train was studied. In this study, newly developed sintered materials based on copper were compared with the commercial products for high speed trains. They were tested on a 1/5 scale dynamometer using low carbon steel disks. Effectiveness, fade, and recovery tests were carried out to examine friction performance and the change of disk thickness variation (DTV) during brake applications and noise propensity were also evaluated. Results showed that the two sintered friction materials exhibit similar friction coefficients and braking performance, whereas the newly developed friction material was superior in terms of DTV generation and noise propensity to the commercial friction material. The improvement of the newly developed friction material was attributed to the high graphite content which reduced the stick-slip phenomena and prevented uneven disk wear by producing friction films on the counter disk.