About 80% of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" structures have been completed, and CR450 is expected to complete prototype manufacturing this year.
High-speed trains run at "China speed"
Author: Our reporter Chai Yaxin
The "National Engineer Award" commendation conference was held recently. 50 teams were awarded the title of "National Outstanding Engineer Team", and the Fuxing high-speed train R&D innovation team was among them.
The Fuxing high-speed train is a new generation of high-speed train independently developed by China and with complete intellectual property rights. It is a major achievement of China's scientific and technological innovation and a bright business card for China to go global. On the innovative path of self-reliance and self-reliance in science and technology, China strives to create a new benchmark for rail transit equipment in the world and constantly creates new heights for Chinese standards.
This year, the first batch of Fuxing smart EMUs have begun to be delivered, and about 80% of the main channel of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network has been completed.
On January 26, the 2024 Spring Festival Transport kicked off. The relevant person in charge of China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "State Railway Group") revealed at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 16 that the country's railways are expected to carry 480 million passengers, with an average of 12 million passengers per day. Compared with the 2023 Spring Festival travel period, the increase was 37.9%, and it was 18% higher than the 2019 Spring Festival travel season.
With the arrival of the Spring Festival, the demand for railway transportation has increased, and the first batch of Fuxing smart EMUs have begun to be delivered this year. In the manufacturing workshop of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CRRC Sifang"), skilled workers in each process are performing assembly operations nervously and orderly.
As the core enterprise of CRRC Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CRRC"), CRRC Sifang is the core research and development base of China's high-speed trains. The Fuxing EMU with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour was born here, and the high-speed maglev transportation system with a speed of 600 kilometers per hour was successfully rolled out here; the first Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train of China's high-speed rail "going overseas" departed here, and high-end rail transit equipment was exported to 30 countries around the world. countries and regions.
On the post-assembly production line of the final assembly plant, the car bodies are neatly arranged like giant dragons, separated by rows of yellow workstations. "These trains are being assembled in sections. The ones painted with red ribbons are the Fuxing smart EMUs. The ones next to them that have not been painted in white are the intercity EMUs. After the accessories and equipment are assembled, the exterior facades will be painted." Final assembly Yang Naixin, a technical worker at the branch factory, told reporters that the car body manufacturing is carried out in the car body branch factory, the bogie manufacturing is carried out in the bogie branch factory, and in the final assembly branch, the car body, bogies, large train components and in-car facilities are all here. Perform integration and debugging.
High-speed trains rolled off the assembly line and left the factory one after another, high-speed rail lines were built one after another, and the speeding high-speed trains traveled to all parts of the country——
On December 8, 2023, the Jinan to Zhengzhou high-speed railway will be fully operational. The two provinces of Shandong and Henan will be directly connected by high-speed rail. The fastest train between Zhengzhou East Station and Jinan West Station can be reached in 1 hour and 43 minutes; on September 28, my country's first designed The Fuzhou-Xiamen high-speed railway, a cross-sea high-speed railway with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, was officially opened for operation; on August 31, the Nanli section of the Guinan high-speed railway was opened for operation. So far, the Guinan high-speed railway has been fully opened for operation, and a new transportation artery has been added in Southwest and South China...
In the north and south of the Yangtze River, railway projects are intensively started, and railway construction is in full swing——
The "final section" of the "Beijing-Shanghai Second Line", the Shandong section of the Weisu High-speed Railway, has started construction. The Hewu section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chongqing High-speed Railway along the Yangtze River with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour has officially started construction. The Chengdu-Chongqing Middle Line, Yu-Kunming, Xiyu, Chengdawan, and Yuxiang , the construction of the Xinjiang-Chongqing-Wanzhou high-speed railway is steadily advancing...
According to the China Railway Group, in 2023, my country's railways will put into operation a total of 3,637 kilometers of new lines, including 2,776 kilometers of high-speed railways; 34 projects will be completed and put into operation, and 102 passenger stations will be put into operation; 407.6 billion yuan of investment in railway infrastructure will be completed in old, minority, border and poverty-stricken areas, and 22 The county ended its history of not having access to railroads. As of the end of 2023, the national railway operation mileage will reach 159,000 kilometers, and the high-speed rail mileage will reach 45,000 kilometers.
In 2016, the "Medium and Long-term Railway Network Plan" proposed the construction of "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway main channels, with a total designed scale of approximately 45,000 kilometers. As of the end of 2023, 36,400 kilometers of the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" main channels have been completed and put into operation, accounting for about 80%; 6,700 kilometers are under construction, accounting for about 15%.
"Currently, the construction of the railway network is changing from focusing on the construction of trunk lines to connecting the network and strengthening the links." Tian Jun, chief engineer of the National Railway Administration, said that while strengthening the construction of trunk lines out of Xinjiang and Tibet, along rivers, borders and coasts, , the demand for multi-level rail transit interconnection has become increasingly prominent. The construction of regional railways and modern logistics hubs such as intercity railways, urban (suburban) railways, and dedicated railway lines is in the ascendant and is gradually becoming the main battlefield for railway construction.
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train embodies advanced Chinese standards, Chinese technology, and Chinese solutions
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway connects the Indonesian capital Jakarta and the famous tourist city Bandung, with a maximum operating speed of 350 kilometers per hour, shortening the travel time from Jakarta to Bandung from more than three hours to 46 minutes. On January 24, Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway completed its 100th day of operation, carrying a total of 1.45 million passengers, with a single-day occupancy rate as high as 99.6%, and passenger flow continues to remain high.
Zhang Fangtao is the chief designer of the CRRC Sifang Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train unit. He has taken over the overall design work of the manual train unit since 2016. On his desk, there is also a photo of him and his technical team members during their preliminary research in Indonesia in 2016.
"The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail trains are designed and manufactured based on the Chinese standard EMU technology platform of Fuxing, which has the world's highest commercial speed of 350 kilometers per hour, embodying advanced Chinese standards, Chinese technology, and Chinese solutions. We fully consider the unique local operating environment and routes when designing Conditions, etc., integrated into Indonesia's 'water and soil'." Zhang Fangtao said.
Indonesia straddles the equator, and the local tropical rainforest climate has the "three highs" characteristics of high temperature, high humidity, and high salt spray, which will cause corrosion to the components of the EMU and directly affect the service life of the EMU.
In order to solve the problem of climate adaptability, starting from March 2018, the technical team conducted on-site outdoor tests for two years in Jakarta, testing hundreds of car body materials and coating samples, and gradually understood the impact of train materials on Corrosion laws in the local environment. Based on the test data, the technical team created a tailor-made anti-corrosion optimization plan for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train. By developing a more advanced new anti-corrosion coating system and upgrading the train's sealing and waterproof structure, the anti-corrosion performance of the train was greatly improved.
Complex terrain also brings challenges to EMU design. Zhang Fangtao told reporters that the total length of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is about 142.3 kilometers, which is not too long among high-speed railway lines. However, the altitude difference along the line is relatively large, with long and steep slopes and a V-shaped valley bottom.
"This poses a higher challenge to the climbing performance of the EMU under complex working conditions, so we continue to explore the design boundaries." According to Zhang Fangtao, the technical team developed a "high acceleration" mode to make the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway EMU more efficient. Starting traction is increased by about 45%. Even if half of the power is lost, the EMU can start and operate safely on a 30‰ slope; when all power is lost, the EMU can complete mutual rescue, thereby more freely coping with the complex slope terrain along the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.
Not long ago, the public welfare class of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway EMU Science Popularization and Cultural Exchange Base came to the campus of Gampula Third National Junior High School in Bandung, Indonesia. As a representative of high-speed rail technical experts, Zhang Fangtao taught high-speed rail knowledge and also experienced the high-speed rail journey with Indonesian students.
0, 180km/h, 260km/h, 350km/h... The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train EMUs painted in silver and red accelerated all the way and "flyed" close to the ground. "We took a round trip between Padalalang Station and Halim Station. The high-speed train ran very smoothly, and you didn't even feel how fast it was. I introduced the speed at that time to my classmates, and asked Everyone pays attention to the stability and low noise at such high speeds." Zhang Fangtao said that although he had ridden in the car many times during previous tests, he still felt very proud when he saw the excitement of the local children. .
Nearly 1,200 sets of Fuxing high-speed trains have been put into operation, carrying more than 2.2 billion passengers in total.
Behind the popularity of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail in Indonesia is the innovative development path of my country's rail transit equipment manufacturing industry represented by high-speed rail.
High-speed trains are the culmination of many high-precision technologies and are also extremely complex system engineering. Go back 20 years ago, when China did not have a real high-speed rail; today, China's high-speed rail leads the world with the fastest operating speed, longest operating mileage and advanced technology.
Wu Donghua, a CRRC scientist and deputy chief engineer of CRRC Sifang, participated in and witnessed the entire process of China's high-speed rail from scratch to leading the world. In 1994, Wu Donghua graduated from university and started working. Since then, he has been engaged in the research and development of rail transit products such as high-speed EMUs, urban rail subway vehicles, and high-speed maglevs. He participated in the development of CRH380A high-speed EMUs, Fuxing high-speed EMUs, high-cold and windproof EMUs, Intercity EMU and other series of products.
"The development of China's high-speed rail has gone through a process from technology introduction to digestion and absorption to independent innovation, and the birth of 'Fuxing' is the key to China's high-speed trains leading the world." Wu Donghua said.
At the end of 2012, China Railway Group took the lead and cooperated with domestic industry, academia, and research units to form a research and development innovation team. Thousands of core supporting companies in the entire industry chain were mobilized to participate, and the research and development of China's standard high-speed EMUs began. In June 2017, the Chinese standard EMU was officially named Fuxing and made its debut on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in both directions. In September of the same year, the Fuxing EMU operated at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour, setting a new benchmark for the world's high-speed railway commercial operations.
"High-speed rail is the result of experiments." Wu Donghua recalled that during the five-year research and development period, Fuxing went through a total of 503 simulation calculations, 5,278 ground tests, and 2,362 line tests. During the line test, the R&D team started preparations at 4 a.m. every day, followed the car for testing during the day, and compiled data at night. During the hottest time, they stayed in the car at nearly 50 degrees Celsius, and at the coldest time, they worked outdoors in weather of minus 20 degrees Celsius.
Fuxing CR400AF EMU, CR400AF-G high-cold EMU, CR400AF-Z intelligent EMU... "'Fuxing' EMU continues to be iteratively updated, with more and more family members, and is safe, intelligent, green and comfortable. We are also constantly improving in other aspects," Wu Donghua said.
On January 10, the Fuxing intelligent EMU G853 train from Wuhan, Hubei Province, entered the terminal station in Xining Station. This is the first time that the Fuxing smart EMU has driven onto the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Compared with the standard version of the Fuxing EMU, the Fuxing Intelligent EMU integrates new technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G, and has achieved comprehensive upgrades in terms of intelligent services, intelligent operation and maintenance; through low-carbon and energy-saving design , the per capita energy consumption per 100 kilometers of the Fuxing smart EMU has been reduced by 7.9%; a gray water recycling device has been added, saving more than 17% of water; the passenger rooms are made of new environmentally friendly materials, making them more green and environmentally friendly.
Today, Fuxing trains are running across the vast land of the motherland. There are nearly 1,200 Fuxing high-speed trains in operation, and a total of more than 2.2 billion passengers have been transported. "In line with national strategies, smarter, lower carbon, more comfortable and more efficient vehicles are the future development direction of high-speed trains," Wu Donghua said.
The CR450 (new generation EMU) prototype is expected to be completed this year. The high-speed maglev train is another commanding height of the world's rail transit technology.
Wu Donghua told reporters that my country's existing Fuxing "family" mainly includes CR400 (speed 350 kilometers per hour), CR300 (speed 250 kilometers per hour), CR200 (speed 160 kilometers per hour), "There is also the CR450, a high-speed EMU with a speed of 400 kilometers per hour, which is under development ".
The "CR450 Science and Technology Innovation Project" is a major scientific research project determined by the country's "14th Five-Year Plan" and will develop new Fuxing products that are safer, more environmentally friendly, more energy-saving, and more intelligent. After more than two years of development, the development of CR450 EMU has achieved initial results. From June 28 to 29, 2023, the China Railway Group verified the performance of a series of new technology components under higher operating speed conditions on the Fuqing-Quanzhou section of the Fuzhou-Xiamen High-speed Railway. At the Meizhou Bay Cross-sea Bridge, the test train ran at a single train speed of 453 kilometers per hour and a relative intersection speed of 891 kilometers per hour; at the Haiwei Tunnel, the test train ran at a single train speed of 420 kilometers per hour and a relative intersection speed of 840 kilometers per hour. A total of 57 scientific research tests were completed for verification, and all indicators performed well. It is understood that China Railway Group will complete the manufacturing of CR450 prototypes and conduct type tests this year.
The pursuit of faster speed means more innovation and breakthroughs. In Wu Donghua’s view, in addition to high-speed rail, high-speed maglev trains are another commanding height of world rail transit technology.
With high-speed rail already available, why do we need to develop high-speed maglev trains? “Currently, the maximum operating speed of high-speed rail is 350 km/h, the cruising speed of aircraft is 800 to 900 km/h, and the high-speed maglev train with a speed of 600 km/h can fill the speed gap between high-speed rail and air transportation, and is the key to building a comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network. An important part." Wu Donghua said.
"You see, this train is 'hugging' the track, and there is basically no risk of the vehicle derailing." Wu Donghua showed reporters the high-speed maglev train model placed on the bookcase in his office. Industry research shows that due to factors such as wheel-rail adhesion, pantograph and catenary currents, and traction power, the technical route of wheel-rail trains will be subject to certain limitations, so the safe operating speed that high-speed rails can achieve is also limited. The high-speed maglev transportation system has technical features such as non-contact, vehicle-track hugging, and ground-synchronous traction. It can better solve the speed-increasing problem and is the fastest large-scale ground public transportation currently achievable.
In July 2016, my country launched the development of a high-speed maglev transportation system with a speed of 600 kilometers per hour. After 5 years of research, the 600 kilometers per hour high-speed maglev transportation system was officially offline in July 2021. It successfully conquered key core technologies, systematically solved problems such as speed improvement, complex environmental adaptability, and localization of core systems, and achieved system integration, Major breakthroughs in complete engineering technologies such as vehicles, traction power supply, operation control communications, and lines and tracks.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline" on February 24, 2021. In addition to setting forth requirements for the medium and long-term planning and development of traditional high-speed railways, it also made plans for the application of non-wheel-rail technology rail transportation at the national level for the first time. It is proposed to "research and promote the layout and test line construction of high-speed maglev channels between mega cities."
"My current focus is on the development of high-speed maglev trains with a speed of 600 kilometers per hour and core components. Next, we need to promote speed tests as soon as possible and study subsequent implementation and application issues." Wu Donghua said that, like high-speed rail, this work is difficult to do. But it is of great significance to support the strategy of strengthening the country through science and technology and transportation.