QINGDAO has become home to the bullet trains plying the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway, which went into operation Oct. 26.

    With the high-speed trains, it only takes 45 minutes from Shanghai’s Hongqiao Station to Hangzhou Station. The 202-kilometer Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway extends the nation’s in-service high-speed rail network to 7,431 kilometers, the No. 1 in the world.

    The bullet trains, equipped with China’s CRH380A system, China’s latest independent innovative achievement in high-speed train technology, were produced by Qingdao’s CSR Sifang Locomotives & Rolling Stock Co.

    The trains travel at an average speed of 350 kilometers per hour and at a maximum speed of 380 kilometers per hour.

    China’s high-speed train industrialization base, Sifang has taken the national lead in the research and development of high-speed trains. In a test run in September, the train achieved a speed of 416.6 kilometers per hour, a world record for test commercial run.

    Sifang has supplied 19 trains equipped with the CRH380A system for Shanghai-Hangzhou routes. The trains feature low-resistance, air-tight body, advanced noise control, high-quality traction engine, safe and environmentally-friendly operation system.

    The company has completed 199 high-speed motor trains with speeds ranging from 200 to 380 kilometers per hour, making it the largest train producer in the country.

    The company is now developing a new generation of CRH380A train.

    (Li Hao, Lin Gang)