On November 24, China’s first rack rail train (electric passenger train) successfully rolled off production line at CRRC Ziyang Co., Ltd. It is China’s first-ever and proprietary train of new standard, filling China’s blank in the rack rail train sector.
On the afternoon of November 24, CRRC Ziyang held a ceremony for release of China’s first rack rail train, in the presence of Vice Governor of Sichuan Province Tian Qingying, Vice President of CRRC Ma Yunshuang, Deputy Secretary-general of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province and Director of the Railway and Airport Office of Sichuan Province Dai Yongbo, Secretary of CPC Ziyang Municipal Committee Yuan Fang, leader of Department of Transportation of Sichuan Province Luo Jiaming, Chairman of Shudao Investment Group Tang Yong, Chairman of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, General Manager of CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Co., Ltd. Fu Chengjun, Vice Director of the Railway and Airport Office of Sichuan Province Deng Chao, Vice Director of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Sichuan Province Xue Dongbing, relevant leaders of Sichuan Province, Ziyang City, CRRC, Shudao Investment Group, China Railway Eryuan, CRRC ZELC, and senior executives, intermediate leading cadres, and employee representatives of CRRC Ziyang. Chairman of CRRC Ziyang Chen Zhixin presided over the release ceremony.
In his speech, Ma Yunshuang pointed out that rack rail train with excellent climbing performance brought new technologies such as autopilot and auto protection, and it teemed with sense of technology and intelligence, providing new solutions for integrated development of transportation and tourism. He added that successful development of rack rail train was a new measure for implementation of the notion “Harmony between man and nature”, and a new exploration for satisfying the people’s aspiration for a better life and providing the people with tourism products of higher quality, better comfort, and more safety. CRRC will strongly support CRRC ZELC to assist CRRC Ziyang in building China’s first rack rail train manufacturing base, according to Vice President Ma.
In his speech, Yuan Fang noted that China’s first rack rail train successfully rolled off the production line, which created a precedent for mountain rail transportation of new standard, and provided important transportation tools and solutions for rural revitalization and for integrated development of culture and tourism. Yuan wished rack rail train a stunning success, saying that it will become a sightseeing train for tourists and a wealth-seeking train for mountain people.
In his speech, Tang Yong said that official release of China’s first rack rail train marked the DUSI mountain rail transit project came into a new construction stage, which filled a blank in domestic mountain rail transit industry and rack rail train development, and was of great significance to development of the mountain rail transit industry of Sichuan.
In his speech, Zhang Min said that we witnessed China’s major breakthrough from scratch in the rack rail train sector, he hoped that mountain rail tourism transportation would thrive in China.
In his speech, Fu Chengjun said that China’s first rack rail train successfully rolled off the production line, which provided reference for development of tourism-characteristic rail transportation equipment technology in China and even in the world. Fu hoped that CRRC Ziyang would take this project as a new starting point and worked with CRRC ZELC to push ahead with the cooperation with all interested parties, and to make more contributions for China’s development toward strong manufacturing country and strong transportation country!
In his speech, Chen Zhixin said that we grandly held the rack rail train release ceremony themed on “Running through mountains toward beauty”, marking birth of China’s first rack rail train and successful completion of China’s first rack rail test line! This is a great event in CRRC Ziyang’s development history, and also a major technical innovation achievement of CRRC Ziyang that worked with Shudao Investment Group and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group to implement CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and Sichuan Provincial Government’s strategic deployment of “Integration of Transportation and Tourism” under the support of CRRC ZELC, according to Chen.
In the end, Ma Yunshuang announced that China’s first rack rail train rolled off the production line.
Tian Qingying, Ma Yunshuang, Dai Yongbo, Yuan Fang, Luo Jiaming, Tang Yong, Zhang Min, and Fu Chengjun, et al. jointly pushed holographic launch pad handle. Amid gorgeous fireworks, rack rail train with red silks and red flowers pulled out slowly with whistle, becoming a brilliant scene.
This rack rail train was developed jointly by CRRC Ziyang and its cooperative partners under the strong support of CRRC ZELC.
Rack rail train is a new-type rail transit vehicle used in mountain railway, and its running part is equipped with one or multiple gears, which engage with rack mounted in the middle of the track when climbing. In this way, the engaging force helps drive the train to move steadily. Rack rail train can run safely on the slope with gradient of up to 480‰.
Since rack railway features high safety, strong adaptability, good environmental friendliness, and low construction cost, it is especially suitable for sightseeing routes in mountains and tourist resorts. In the future, rack rail train will become one of the important transportation tools for domestic mountain rail transit and sightseeing tours.
CRRC Ziyang took the lead in preparing Sichuan Province’s local standard of General Technical Requirements for Mountain Rack Rail Vehicles, and building China’s first rack rail wheel-drive device test bench and first rack rail train test line, which laid a firm foundation for successful development of rack rail train and created conditions for establishment of domestic first mountain rack rail vehicle development base.
Current rack rail train in production is developed by CRRC Ziyang specially for Shudao Investment Group. In the furture, it will be applied in domestic first rack railway between Dujiangyan and Siguniang Mountain (hereinafter referred to as “DUSI” line).
This train innovatively adopts “Wheel track +rack rail” dual-standard traction mode, so that its maximum running speed is up to 120km/h at the wheel track section, and up to 40km/h at the rack rail section, implying the train fully meets the DUSI Line’s running condition on the slope with gradient of up to 120‰. In other words, the rack rail train’s climbing length of 600 meters on DUSI Line ramp with highest gradient is equivalent to the height of a 20-storied building, implying its climbing capacity is more than 10 times that of domestic mainline railway locomotives.
Besides, this train adopts 4-car marshalling, with rated capacity of 145 passengers. For interiors, it consists of three seat zones including Deluxe VIP Family Compartment, Deluxe Sightseeing Seat Zone, and Ordinary Seat Zone, in order to meet passengers’ diverse needs. Equipped with domestic largest curved sightseeing glass window, this train can help realize in-depth interaction between passengers in the train and natural landscapes.
For intelligence, this train applies high technologies such as Beidou /5G IoT autopilot, auto protection, and operation big data memory and intelligent analysis, making the train “brain” more intelligent. Moreover, the vehicle exterior adopts parameter-based design lamp set, and door zone and passenger compartment in the train are respectively equipped with intelligent display screen, making the travel safeguarded by science and technology.
It is learned that Stage 1 of the DUSI Line is estimated to run in late 2023, and the whole line will be put into service by 2026. After the DUSI Line is completed, tourists may directly take this rack rail train at Dujiangyan Station to travel to Siguniang Mountain Scenic Area, with travel time between the two places shortened to 2h from 5h.