The invention discloses a distance measurement method and distance measurementsystem, wherein the method includes the following steps: a pulse laser emits a lasersignal; a photodiode APD array receives a return signal which is returned after the lasersignal encounters a measured target, and transmits the received return signal to a timing chip; the timing chip determines the flight time of a rail train to the measured target according to the laser signal and the return signal, and transmits the determined flight time to a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), and the timing chip reaches ns-level measurement accuracy; and the PLC determines distance between the rail train and the measured target according to the received flight time. The distance measurement method provided by the invention solves the technical problems of complicated measurement structure and low accuracy brought by adoption of a direct counting mode in related technologies, improves measurement accuracy, and simplifies the structure.