On the afternoon of November 29, 2023, the UIC-KTZ online workshop was jointly held by the International Union of Railways and Kazakhstan State Railways, with the theme of "Switching to Low Carbon Traction Energy".
More than 140 delegates from 20 countries participated in the seminar. Speakers included representatives of transport companies (members and partners of the International Union of Railways) from Australia, South Korea, China, Germany, Malaysia, France and Kazakhstan. CRRC Ziyang was invited to participate and made a keynote speech.
The panelists discussed the application of low carbon traction energy in rail transport, and exchanged initiatives to introduce alternative fuels on railways, the use of battery-powered locomotives, and modern solutions to extend the running time of rolling stocks.
Participants considered that in different countries of the world, rail transport is the most environmentally friendly compared to other economic sectors (energy, oil refining and metallurgical industry). According to the survey results of participants, 94% believe that hybrid technology, that is, the combination of diesel engines with battery traction, is the most promising technology for the transition to alternative forms of traction.
At the meeting, Li Xining, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CRRC Ziyang , shared the company's research and application results in low-carbon rail transit technology and high-power new energy locomotive technology, and proposed CRRC Ziyang's solutions to reduce carbon emissions.
“Since 2008, we have started the research of lithium battery technology and hybrid traction, and have formed four major platform products in different power ranges, which can be customized and developed according to user needs to provide comprehensive solutions." Li Xining introduced, "In the field of power batteries and hybrid traction, we have applied for a number of patents and participated in the formulation of a number of technical standards, filling the gap in the technical specifications of power batteries for rail transit equipment in China."
Li Xining focused on sharing the HXN6 hybrid locomotive independently developed by the company.
He said that the locomotive obtained the type certificate and manufacturing license issued by the State Railway Administration of China in 2020, which can meet the transportation needs of 5,000 tons of small operation. The locomotive has two core power sources: diesel engine and power battery. At present, the HXN6 locomotive has been widely used, and according to the user application data report, each locomotive can save 38% to 47% of fuel per year and reduce carbon emissions by 374 tons per year. At the same time, the working conditions of the diesel engine are improved, which can reduce various harmful emissions by more than 35% to 85%. In addition, because the locomotive is basically in pure electric mode in operation, the daily noise time of diesel engine can be reduced by more than 80%.
"I hope that everyone can work together to carry out more research on new energy topics " Li Xining appealed, "CRRC Ziyang looks forward to working with UIC and global customers to join hands in the low carbon era of rail transit."