On January 9, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway Group) held a group work meeting, in which "CR450" became an eye-catching keyword. It is reported that in 2024, China Railway Group will complete the manufacture of CR450 prototypes and carry out type tests, which are expected to be put into use by 2025.
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported on January 10 that this development marks a breakthrough in China's CR450 technology innovation project launched three years ago, with the CR450 high-speed bullet train running at an experimental speed of 450 km/h and a commercial operating speed of 400 km/h, thus promising to become the world's fastest high-speed train in one fell swoop - only 2.5 hours from Beijing to Shanghai.
Previously, in order to speed up the research and development of new products of higher speed, safer, more environmentally friendly, more energy-saving and more intelligent Fuxing EMUs, China Railway Group has completed the performance test of CR450 key new high-tech components in June last year, and the speed of 435 kilometers per hour in the test operation has been recorded, marking an "important milestone" in the development of CR450, and the development work has achieved phased results.
On June 28 last year, at the Meizhou Bay Bridge, the test train rendezvous was run. Image from IC Photo
According to reports, China Railway currently operates the world's largest high-speed rail network, and at its meeting on January 9, China Railway Group sought to further upgrade this rail network system. The "CR450 Science and Technology Innovation Project" is a major scientific research project determined by the national "14th Five-Year Plan", which will develop safer, more environmentally friendly, more energy-saving and smarter new Fuxing products.
At present, China's existing high-speed trains can reach speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour, but the CR450 high-speed bullet train will have a future speed of 450 kilometers per hour for experimental operation and 400 kilometers per hour for commercial operation, which will set a new record, potentially reducing the travel time between Beijing and Shanghai (one of the busiest lines in China) from more than four hours to about 2.5 hours.
It is expected that by 2025, the CR450 high-speed EMU will be put into service after a nationwide focused study of key rail technologies such as automatic control, axle design, steering systems, track upgrades, and safety measures has been carried out on the project.
Data map: On January 21, 2019, at the Nanjing EMU depot, the EMU train was ready to depart (drone shooting). The picture is from The Paper
According to the naming convention of the Continental Railway trains, the CR450 stands for a train with a design speed of 400 kilometers per hour. In April 2022, the world's leading new Fuxing high-speed comprehensive inspection train was put into operation. As a new technology verification platform for high-speed EMUs, the car participated in the early test of CR450 EMU development. On April 12 of the same year, the speed of a single train in the tunnel was 403 kilometers per hour and the relative intersection speed was 806 kilometers per hour, and on April 21 of the same year, the speed of a single train on the open line was 435 kilometers per hour and the relative intersection speed was 870 kilometers per hour, creating a world record for the intersection speed of high-speed rail EMU trains on the open line and the tunnel.
On June 28 last year, at the Meizhou Bay Bridge, the test train ran at a single speed of 453 kilometers per hour and a relative rendezvous speed of 891 kilometers per hour, and on June 29 in the Haiwei Tunnel, the test train ran at a single speed of 420 kilometers per hour and a relative rendezvous speed of 840 kilometers per hour, and carried out effective performance verification of new technology components, and verified that a total of 57 scientific research tests were completed, and the indicators performed well, marking the phased results of the development of CR450 EMUs, which was the "CR450 scientific and technological innovation project" has laid a solid foundation for the smooth implementation of the project.
In 2008, China opened its first high-speed rail line, which is considered crucial for China, the world's second-largest economy, and its population of 1.4 billion. Previously, research by Chinese scientists pointed out that high-speed rail emits less carbon emissions, and its "carbon footprint" is 6% of air travel and 11% of car travel.
China Railway Group said that compared with the existing Fuxing train, in addition to the speed advantage, the CR450 high-speed bullet train is expected to be more environmentally friendly and energy-saving.
From 2024, the number of passengers on China's railway network is expected to increase by 4.7% compared with last year, with a target of 3.855 billion passengers, and the volume of goods transported may reach 3.9 billion tons, an increase of 0.5% over last year, according to the meeting of China Railway Group.
At the end of 2023, the railway department opened five high-speed railways in just two days, adding a strong touch to the railway construction throughout the year. On December 27 last year, the Hangzhou-Nanchang high-speed railway and the Guangxi Fangchenggang-Dongxing railway were put into operation. On December 26 last year, the Chengdu-Zigong-Yibin high-speed railway, the Longyan-Longchuan high-speed railway Longyan-Wuping section, and the Shantou-Shanwei high-speed railway Shantou south-Shanwei section were officially put into operation.
By the end of 2023, China's railway network covers 159,000 kilometers, including 45,000 kilometers of high-speed railways. China plans to expand its railway network to 165,000 kilometers by 2025, including 50,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.
Source: Observer.com B51