According to the latest data released by Hunan Maglev Transportation Development Co., Ltd, Changsha Maglev Express，China’s first medium and low speed maglev commercial operation line with fully independent intellectual property rights, has reached a total mileage of 2.735 million kilometers and carried approximately 9.1654 million passengers since its opening three years ago.
Three years’ successful operation of China’s self-developed maglev marks China’s rapidly progress of maglev train from technology research to commercial applications.
In 2013, Hunan province decided to build a medium and low speed maglev line project connecting Changshanan Railway Station and Changsha Huanghua International Airport with a total length of 18.55 km. The maglev is designed to run at the speed of 100 km/h. On May 6, 2016, the Maglev 1.0 developed by CRRC ZELC was put into operation.
Based on R&D and operations of Maglev 1.0, CRRC ZELC has taken the lead in innovating key technologies such as vehicle system integration, traction, suspension, current connection, light weight and braking. In June 2018, the Maglev 2.0 for commercial operation with a speed of 160 km/h was successfully developed by CRRC ZELC.
The maglev train with a design speed of 200 km/h is also under development and is scheduled to roll off the assembly line in early 2020. The driverless maglev train is designed to run at the speed of 200 km/h, filling a gap of this speed class in maglev transportation system globally.
According to Tong Laisheng, director of the Maglev Research Institute of CRRC ZELC, the Maglev 3.0 will make fully new breakthroughs in technology. Compared with the Maglev 1.0, its climbing ability is improved by 40%, which makes it possible to climb nearly 4 floors’ height within the running of 100 meters like “roller coaster”. In addition, the permissible curve negotiation speed of the maglev increases by over 15%, and the average acceleration by over 50% as well.
(Translator: Lili HE)