Railway bridges must have sufficient stiffness to ensure high?speed train safety， increasing seismic response. The Sichuan?Tibet Railway network has extended westward. This research analyzes the fourth level of high?speed railway bridges. Three 1/5 and six 1/8 scaled?down high?speed rail （HSR） round?ended rectangular?shaped cross?section solid （RERSCSS） con crete pier were tested and evaluated. The piers survived the earthquake with a peak acceleration 0.96g （prototype 0.32g， seven de grees high?level earthquake）. Bridge pier specimens showed no concrete cracking or spalling. The code?designed bridge is seismi cally safe. When the seismic energy reached 1.71g （prototype 0.57g， eight degrees high?level earthquake）， the bridge piers showed moderate to severe damage in the cis?bridge direction. At giant earthquake 1.86g， no bridge abutments collapsed. The study shows that increasing longitudinal reinforcement rate increases structural energy dissipation under the same ground shaking， but increasing seismic protection level increases it more， indicating that test piers can take larger earthquake loads. The bridge pier’s energy dissi pation and hysteresis curve depend on the longitudinal reinforcement rate. High?speed rail piers are not designed for ductility. There fore， their volume hoop rate and hysteresis performance are low. Based on the analysis， the seismic design classification may be up graded from the third to forth levels.