Abstract: Overhead rigid catenary is a common catenary scheme in urban rail transit. Its span selection has a great influence on the current collection quality of pantograp |catenary system. Therefore, it is very important to select a suitable span of overhead catenary that matches the train operating speed. Considering the influencing factors of current collecting quality of pantograph\|catenary system, the matching relationship between span of catenary and train operating speed is analyzed from the aspects of wave propagation speed of rigid catenary and overall irregularity of catenary system, thus the principle and suggestion scheme of rigid catenary span arrangement matching with train operating speed are obtained.