Drive system and railway vehicle provided with the drive system

In a drive system for standardizing a converter for a plurality of power sources, physical circuits as well as control of the converter need to be switched when a train enters a non-electrified route from an electrified route and when a train enters an electrified route from a non-electrified route. There is a problem that a changeover process is complicated. A drive system includes, when an AC side of the converter (21,22) is switched from an overhead contact line to a power generator (6): a first step of terminating a switching operation of the converter to open a contactor (12) between the overhead contact line and the converter; a second step of closing a contactor (13) between the power generator and the converter to start a switching operation of converting a single-phase alternating current to a direct current by the converter; and a third step of permitting torque output from an electric motor (5).