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Purpose – In electric system of high-speed trains, neutral sections are set to balance the three-phase load. When passing neutral sections, the train should detach from the power supply for a short time. To permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) traction system, the voltage of DC link will increase quickly due to the back-EMF of PMSM during this time. Although the energy consumption braking method can be adopted to consume the feedback energy. It not only wastes energy, but also causes more speed drop of the train. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In order to get better performance when the train is under passing neutral section condition, a suitable control method is proposed, in which the torque command is set to zero and d-axis current order remains unchanged during passing neutral section. Based on a co-simulation model, the influences of this method on the PMSMs traction system are compared with that of traditional method, which is used in induction motors traction system. This model combines both control strategy and finite element model of motor, which can take the effects of magnetic saturation and power loss into consideration. Findings – In PMSMs traction system, PMSMs work as generators during neutral section, and charge to DC bus, which may cause over-voltage damage. Moreover, there would be strong torque shock at the moment of power cut-off. It is finally found that, with the suitable control method, the high-speed train can pass the neutral section with less speed drop, less torque shock and little DC link voltage rise. Originality/value – The control method proposed in this paper is easier to achieve and gets a better performance of PMSMs traction system in high-speed train compared with the traditional method. Furthermore, the co-simulation model is much closer to reality than the analytical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]