THE country’s longest high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai will be in operation at the end of this month and the CRH380A, a high-speed train built by Qingdao will be running on the rail to serve travelers on the railway.

The trains were built and equipped with advanced technology developed by top professionals and tests showed they would be safer, more comfortable and more environmentally friendly than older products.

Design of locomotive

The CSR Sifang Co. Ltd. built the locomotive with the concept and technology of a rocket. The total length of the locomotive is 12 meters, 2.6 meters longer than the CRH2 train. “Its operation speed is 380 kilometers per hour, which makes it more of a challenge than building a rocket as it has to deal with many problems such as disturbance of the air flow,” said Yu Dalian from the company’s technology center.

Twenty different types of locomotive were designed during the process and they made their final choice after 22 experiments and tests. This new type of locomotive is world-class.

Safety performance

Another highlight of the train is its excellent safety performance.

The possibility of derailing is lower than 0.8 percent. “Each part of the train has been given rigorous tests to ensure its safety,” said Tao Guidong from the center.

There are 244 bridges and 22 tunnels on the 1,300-km railway, which is one of the most complicated in the world. The extrusion force when two trains meet will be huge and the train is much more resilient than older trains, according to thousands of experiments, Tao said.

The company has also made significant achievements in energy-saving.

Environmentally friendly train

All the power sources for the train will be green and there is no emission of garbage, waste water or gas while it is under operation.

Meanwhile, the new locomotive is controlled by electricity and the power energy generated from the brake can be transferred into electricity again which can be reused by the train.

The eco-friendly train can also provide a more comfortable traveling experience to passengers.

The train can also effectively reduce noise to 66 decibels, 14 decibels lower than a plane and 10 decibels lower than a car, said Yu.

Bigger inner space

There are several different sections in the train, including first, second and commercial class areas, a dining car and a VIP landscaping zone. The first and second-class areas have rotating chairs, while chairs in commercial class can convert into beds for travelers to rest. There are also facilities such as TV sets, mini tables, sockets and reading lights.

Passengers can also enjoy the beautiful view from the train in the landscaping zone.

Meanwhile, there are special areas, a toilet and passage for disable passengers, while the spaces for toilets and luggage are much bigger than regular trains. (Wang Yuanyuan, Lin Gang)