Research conclusions ： (1) For Jinan rail transit line R1 , the DC 1 500 V overhead contact system is better than the contact rail in security, stable current - collecting, line network resource sharing, whole life cycle economy and environmental aspects, and the contact rail has a little advantage in landscape. (2) The overhead contact system is generally superior to the contact rail and is selected as an optimal scheme for R1 through quantitative analysis and weight distribution. (3) The difference of the vehicle and other aspects caused by traction network difference should also as an important factor in the evaluation. (4) The research results have been applied on the design of Jinan rail transit R1 , and can provide a reference for the similar projects.