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CRH trains take a leading role

( Xinhua )

Updated: 2014-01-10

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CRH trains take a leading role

CRH trains have helped shorten traveling times and provided comfort for users. In developing the sector, the country takes a leading role in the world. [Photo/Xinhua] 

BEIJING - Seven high-speed railways at a combined length of 2,285 kilometers were opened in China on December 28. This brought the total length of the country's operational railways for CRH (China Railway High-speed) trains to more than 10,000 kilometers. The target for 2020 is 18,000 kilometers.

CRH trains have helped shorten traveling times and provided comfort for users. In developing the sector, the country takes a leading role in the world.

President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, in separate visits last year to the United States, Southeast Asia and Europe, both cited high-speed rail as an area for international cooperation.

According to a research published last month by Lu Feng, a professor with the school of government at Peking University, the great leap forward of China's railway development in the last decade was achieved with the introduction of foreign technologies. Between 2004-2006, four types of high-speed trains were bought as were production technologies from Canada's Bombardier, Japan's Kawasaki, France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens. Through these deals, Chinese technicians mastered the advanced manufacturing technology.

Rapid progress is also credited to China's own railway research and production capability. Technical personnel took bold steps to develop products of their own. This was a decisive factor, Lu's report said.

A case in point is the CRH380A train manufactured by Qingdao Sifang Co Ltd, the largest rolling stock production base of China South Railway (CSR). The model is the fastest train in operation in the world. Its highest speed is 380 km/hour. In its initial test run, the train hit 486.1 km/hour.

The train differs from foreign products in four areas: external shape, the framework carrying the wheels, car body sealing, and network control and trailing systems.

Statistics show Qingdao Sifang has delivered 146 CRH380A trains, representing a domestic market share of nearly 50 percent. These trains run on ten railways and have recorded a total safe operation of 160 million kilometers. The off-line launch on November 7 of a new CRH380A train, which is tailor-made for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong railway, was another major event in the company's history.

The China Autonomous Innovation Joint Action Plan of High-Speed Train signed in February 2008 by the Ministry of Technology and the then Ministry of Railways was pivotal in ushering in the present era of independent development.

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