Organizational strategy for hybrid tension catenaries to achieve the supercritical speed regime in pantograph-catenary interaction

In the supercritical speed range, the pantograph–catenary system exhibits clear advantages, including reduced fluctuations in dynamic contact force and limited vertical displacement of the pantograph head, making it highly suitable for train operations above 400 km/h. However, ensuring a stable transition from subcritical conditions (speed ratio < 0.7) to supercritical operation (speed ratio > 1) presents a major challenge, as resonance risks emerge near the critical speed ratio of approximately 1. This study proposes a hybrid-tension catenary configuration strategy to enable supercritical operation. Targeting an operational speed of 500 km/h, the analysis considers acceleration processes and dynamic performance through overlap sections. The results show that increasing the contact-wire tension to approximately 40 kN during acceleration and maintaining the maximum operational speed ratio below 0.8 allow the pantograph–catenary system to reach the supercritical regime. Moreover, optimizing the number of stitch wires and the crossing-point height in overlap sections further improves dynamic performance. The proposed configuration strategy provides a significant step toward achieving supercritical operation and offers essential guidance for the development of next-generation, higher-speed pantograph–catenary systems.