Abstract: In order to investigate the interaction between high-speed pantographs and catenaries,two catenary systems without stitch wire and two systems with stitch wire along with the DSA250 and DSA380 high-speed pantographs were chosen at different speed grades. The FEA (finite element analysis) method was employed to build a 3-D model for the catenary system and a mass-damper-spring model for the pantograph. Based on the series of European standards about the pantograph/catenary system and considering current collection quality and safety,the evaluation and comparison of dynamic performances of the four different pantograph/catenary systems were carried out. The research shows that the catenary system without stitch wire is recommended when the speed is between 200 to 250 km/h and the pre-sag should be set in the catenary system. The catenary system with stitch wire can also be considered within the speed interval. When the speed is above 300 km/h,the catenary system with stitch wire should be adopted and the pre-sag should not be set in the catenary system.