Keywords: pantograph–catenary interaction, inverse dynamics, indirect force estimation, augmented Kalman filter, optimisation, monitoring.

The contact force between the pantograph and the overhead contact line is a fundamental indicator of the mechanical performance of railway current collection systems. Existing measurement techniques rely on instrumented pantographs, requiring structural modifications that increase system complexity and limit large-scale deployment. This paper presents and experimentally validates a fully non-intrusive methodology for estimating the pantograph contact force using acceleration, displacement, and pressure measurements only. The proposed strategy decomposes the estimation problem into two frequency domains. The very low-frequency component of the contact force is reconstructed from the pressure signal of the pantograph uplift mechanism, while the remaining frequency content is solved by an inverse dynamic problem based on acceleration and displacement measurements. Contact force estimation is performed using Kalman-filter-based models, and three different formulations are investigated and compared. Model parameters are optimised to ensure a fair assessment of each approach. Two sensing configurations are considered: combined acceleration and displacement measurements, and acceleration-only measurements. The methodology is validated experimentally using a laboratory test bench equipped with a real pantograph, where the estimated contact force is compared with a reference force measured at the application point.

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