On Sept 26, at the foot of the Great Wall, a new statue of Jeme Tien Yow, the "Father of China's Railroads", was unveiled in CRRC Beijing Nankou Co., Ltd., Beijing. Not far away, the first Chinese national railway, the Peking-Kalgan, gracefully wound through this one-hundred-year old company, China’s earliest State-owned railway factory. Thousands of employees participated in the unveiling ceremony.
In 1905, Jeme Tien Yow, having graduated from Yale University, resolutely took the responsibility to construct a zigzag railroad all by himself in the rugged mountains north of Peking, which had been considered impossible by foreigners. Thus the world-renowned Peking-Kalgan Railway, an important milestone in the history of Chinese transportation, came into being.
Then, in 1906, to further construction of the railway, Jeme Tien Yow founded the Peking-Kalgan Factory, predecessor of CRRC Nankou, now viewed as an original landmark of the Chinese national railway industry. Over the last hundred years the antique workshop has developed into a diversified high-tech enterprise, manufacturing mechanical gear transmission and air compressor systems while expanding its business into rail transit, wind power generation, and even the petroleum industry, innovating thousands of large CNC machining and testing devices.
At present, CRRC Nankou has an annual production capacity of 8,000 pairs of traction gears, 2,000 railway gearboxes, 1500 wind power gearboxes, 500 petroleum mechanical gearboxes, 10,000 pairs of screw rotors and 5,000 air compressors. CRRC Nankou also currently has joint ventures with Sweden’s SKF, Germany’s Knorr and China’s Academy of Railway Sciences. Its annual sales revenue has reached more than1.5 billion RMB ($2.25 billion)
Gazing at the statue of the company’s forefather, one older employee said emotionally, “As a member of CRRC Corporation, I have seen the glorious history of the Chinese Railway Industry. Chinese railways have reached a world-advanced level, reflecting the national strength of China. Furthermore, Chinese high-speed trains have been ‘going abroad’, becoming a business card of Chinese diplomacy and attracting international interest. I feel it’s a great glory for every Chinese person.”
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