As the speed of high-speed trains continues to increase, the service environment of traction gearboxes is becoming more and more complex, and the service performance of gearbox is also facing greater challenges. Based on the influence of the internal excitation, external excitation and coupled excitation of the gearbox on its vibration response, domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of researches on the vibration characteristics and fault diagnosis of the high-speed train gearbox. According to the existing research results, this paper mainly summarizes the gearbox strength, reliability and life, fault diagnosis and monitoring of the gearbox. The method and research status of vibration characteristics analysis and fault diagnosis of high-speed train gearbox are elaborated in details, and suggestions and prospects for future key research directions are proposed.