Abstract: There is a high incidence of rail corrugation in the small radius curve section of metro with Cologne-egg fasteners. It is found in the field research that the rail vibration absorber has an inhibiting effect on the formation and evolution of rail corrugation. Therefore, a quantitative study was carried out. Firstly, the finite element model of wheelset-rail-vibration absorber system was established combined with the field research in the small radius curve section with Cologne-egg fasteners of Chongqing Metro. Then, based on the friction self-excited vibration theory, the vibration response of the wheel-rail system with and without rail vibration absorber were studied comparatively by the transient dynamic analysis method. Furthermore, on the basis of the friction work theory, the wear characteristics of rail corrugation with and without rail vibration absorber were comparatively investigated. Finally, the optimal connection parameters of rail vibration absorber to retard the rail wear in the small radius curve section with Cologne-egg fasteners were determined by the least squares method and particle swarm algorithm. Results show that the installation of rail vibration absorbers can effectively suppress the formation of rail corrugation by controlling the self-excited vibration of wheel-rail friction, and also significantly inhibit the development of rail wear in depth to slow down the evolution of rail corrugation, with a retardation efficiency of approximately 48%. And transverse stiffness of 2.99×10⁷ N·m⁻¹, transverse damping of 3.96×10⁴ N·s·m⁻¹, longitudinal stiffness of 5.99×10⁷ N·m⁻¹, and longitudinal damping of 1.79×10⁴ N·s·m⁻¹ are the optimal parameters for rail vibration absorber to slow down the evolution of rail corrugation in depth in the section of the small radius curve with Cologne-egg fasteners.