The traction motors in electric multiple unit (EMU) trains are powered by AC-DC-AC converters, and the DC link voltage is generated by single phase PWM converters, with a fluctuation component under twice the frequency of the input catenary AC grid, which causes fluctuations in the motor torque and current. Traditionally, heavy and low-efficiency hardware LC resonant filters parallel in the DC side are adopted to reduce the ripple effect. In this paper, an analytical model of the ripple phenomenon is derived and analyzed in the frequency domain, and a ripple control scheme compensating the slip frequency of rotor vector control systems without a hardware filter is applied to reduce the torque and current ripple amplitude. Then a relatively simple discretization method is chosen to discretize the algorithm with a high discrete accuracy. Simulation and experimental results validate the proposed ripple control strategy.