When China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) is mentioned, people may think of the Fuxing bullet train, which won the Special Prize at the National Science and Technology Progress Awards. Or they might think of the Maglev train reaching speeds of 600 km/h.
However, CRRC's achievements go beyond high-speed rail – it has deep-sea robots capable of lifting four tons at 6000 meters underwater, and high-altitude wind turbines operating in deserts and plateaus.
CRRC focuses on rail transit equipment while developing wind power equipment, new energy buses and new material devices as key growth areas. As of 2023, CRRC remained the largest rail transit equipment supplier globally, leading on, participating in or revising the development of nearly 100 international standards.
The new generation prototype Fuxing train, the CR450, is currently in production, with a test speed of 450 km/h and a commercial operating speed of 400 km/h. The development of the CR450 will upgrade China’s high-speed rail technology system, meeting a global need for 400 km/h high-speed rail.
The network control system, the “brain” of high-speed trains, manages millions of changing data points every second. A decade ago, China had no indigenous train network control systems and had to purchase them from abroad, encountering the barriers of strict confidentiality on core algorithms and control logic. Then, CRRC decided to develop its own technology: Creating network chips, developing algorithms and control logic and tackling hundreds of operational scenarios one after the other.
"Now, we have successfully built an independent software and hardware platform for the network control system, giving the Fuxing train a 'Chinese brain'," said Wang Jun, CRRC's chief scientist. “The Fuxing train’s ‘brain’ has advanced, achieving Ethernet train control, increasing data transmission speed 60 times over and capacity by 100 times.”
On July 20, 2021, after over 1,680 simulation calculations, 4,750 tests and 1,800 days and nights of effort in developing key technologies such as levitation guidance, vehicles, traction power supply, operational control communication and system integration, the 600 km/h high-speed Maglev transportation system was unveiled in Qingdao. It was the world's first system designed for 600 km/h, the fastest ground transport vehicle, representing CRRC’s future technology reserve.
A Fuxing train has over 40,000 parts, involving more than 10 industries, including steel, aluminum, machinery, electronics and precision instruments. Innovation in such a complex piece of equipment cannot be accomplished by one company alone. Therefore, CRRC fosters an open, diverse, collaborative and win-win innovation ecosystem.
In Zhuzhou, Hunan province, industry experts can gather at short notice to discuss technical details and assemble tens of thousands of parts for an electric locomotive. This is thanks to the world’s highest industrial agglomeration. The cluster includes over 400 upstream and downstream enterprises centered around five CRRC subsidiaries.
Founded in 2018, Hunan Tianqiao Jiacheng Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is a member of this cluster. It has developed a series of products, including the 5G remote-control smart crane and the unmanned hot-rolling slab crane, through frequent collaboration with CRRC subsidiaries.
Currently, CRRC has over 86,000 suppliers, including 18,000 major suppliers and 6,900 core suppliers. About 9,800 are rail transit equipment suppliers, with private companies accounting for 74 percent.
In 2019, CRRC bravely undertook the task of developing the Chinese standard subway train. In the end, with the collaboration of 17 leading domestic research institutes and universities, 70 industry chain and strategic suppliers and 338 key enterprises, they developed critical components such as high-speed circuit breakers, chips, compressors and brake control solenoid valves, achieving a 98 percent localization rate in key systems.
At the CRRC exhibition hall, a 660 kW wind turbine generator stands out. CRRC’s involvement in wind power started in 2000 with China's first domestically produced wind turbine order.
High-speed rail and wind turbines are like twins, both using similar technologies.
The braking process in high-speed trains, converting kinetic energy to electricity and feeding it back to the grid, mirrors the wind power generation process. Utilizing its 800 kW railway locomotive AC motor test platform, CRRC quickly matched and completed the factory and type tests for the 660 kW wind turbine generator.
CRRC also has numerous ‘invisible champion’ companies, leading the market with products like elastic supports, couplings and supercapacitors. The large-scale industrialization of high-speed rail strongly supports these products' emergence in the wind power industry.
Today, CRRC has the most comprehensive wind power equipment industry chain in China and has delivered over 6000 wind turbines, ranking first domestically in wind turbine sales and second in blade sales.
Beyond wind power, CRRC continues to leverage its technological treasure trove. In the new energy vehicle sector, it has created leading electric and hybrid drive system integration platforms. In new materials, CRRC produces a wide range of products, making excellent achievements in automotive shock absorption materials.
Now, CRRC is developing a new dual-track, dual-cluster model focusing on rail transit and clean energy equipment, continuing to enhance the national brand.
(Executive editor: Zhu Zeya)
