The contact characteristics of the current collection system are investigated by analyzing data collected during a test run of the Korean high speed rail vehicle. For the analysis, the signals from accelerometers and load cells attached to the various parts of the pantograph are analyzed in both the time and frequency domains. In the frequency domain, the pantograph response consists of low frequency components related to the rigid-body motion of the panhead assembly and high frequency components due to the structural vibration modes of the pantograph. The analysis shows that the inclusion of the high frequency structural vibration modes of the pantograph in the contact force calculation has a negligible effect on the predicted mean value of the contact force but significantly affects the magnitude of its fluctuations. This finding implies that numerical simulations using lumped element models of the pantograph may accurately predict the mean contact force but is limited in its capacity for predicting the fluctuation about the mean. Since the ratio of the fluctuation to the mean in the contact force increases with increased train speed, the limitation of the predictions based on numerical simulation results becomes more pronounced at higher train speed.