By Li Xinping, People’s Daily<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1975, deep in the Qinling Mountains, China’s first fully electrified railway, the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, marked the beginning of a transformative journey toward railway modernization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Half a century later, on the Chengdu Plain, engineers are developing a cutting-edge 400 km\/h traction power supply system for the CR450 bullet train, which is expected to establish a new global benchmark in high-speed rail operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From humble beginnings to a globally leading network, electrification has played a pivotal role in China’s railway evolution, from conventional lines to high-speed rail, and from operations to digital systems. By the end of 2024, China’s operational railway network had reached 162,000 kilometers, with more than 120,000 kilometers, or 75.8 percent electrified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Electrified railways rely on electric traction power, with high-speed rail representing their most advanced form. The core components – power supply systems, traction, communications, and signaling – form the technical backbone of the electrified network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compared to diesel-powered lines, electrified railways offer superior performance. In freight transport, China’s heavy-haul electrified railways can handle 5,000 tons with a single locomotive, while the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway has normalized operations with trains weighing up to 20,000 tons. In passenger services, a 16-car high-speed train carries approximately 900 tons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speed is another transformative aspect. When the Baoji-Chengdu line was non-electrified, trains ran at only 20 to 25 km\/h. Today, Fuxing CR400 bullet trains can reach a commercial speed of 350 km\/h. Electrification also delivers significant environmental benefits: electric trains emit no exhaust, generate lower noise, and contribute substantially less air pollution than diesel alternatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China now boasts the world’s largest electrified railway network, operating across diverse and challenging environments – from frigid winters to scorching summers, and from humid lowlands to high-altitude plateaus. These experiences have positioned China as a global leader in railway electrification and high-speed rail technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While some might reduce electrification to “poles and wires,” the underlying engineering is highly complex. Take overhead contact wires, often called the “lifeline” of high-speed trains. These wires must withstand extreme demands in terms of strength, conductivity, heat resistance, and durability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In the early days, we used copper-magnesium and copper-tin wires,” explained Zhang Jian, chief engineer at China Railway Self-creation Electric Co., Ltd. “But they couldn’t fully support the requirements of 350 km\/h or higher speeds, prompting urgent innovation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After three years of research and development, Chinese engineers became the first in the world to industrialize high-strength, high-conductivity copper-chromium-zirconium alloy wires. These new wires improve conductivity by 20 percent and support safe, stable, and cost-effective operations at 400 km\/h, filling a crucial gap in global rail technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the world’s busiest high-speed rail network, China faces ongoing challenges such as overhead line wear. Traditionally, defect detection involved capturing millions of inspection images and manual review by experienced engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The workload was immense,” said Zhang Zhongyi, general manager of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway maintenance company. “Our team had to manually analyze over 14 million images annually.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To address this, China developed a visual intelligence system for high-speed railways in 2019, using AI to pre-screen and detect over 1,300 types of potential defects before human verification. The system has significantly enhanced detection accuracy and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leveraging technologies such as big data, 5G, cloud computing, drones, image recognition, and intelligent equipment, China has built a smart maintenance platform that has cut traction power maintenance costs by 20 percent, extended overhaul intervals by 20 percent, and increased the service life of components by 20 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the Lhasa-Nyingchi Railway, the highest electrified railway in the world, to the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway, which has transported over 9 billion tons of freight, and to the newly opened Chongqing East-Qianjiang section of the Chongqing-Xiamen high-speed railway with a designed speed of 350 km\/h, China’s electrification journey exemplifies the nation’s transition from “made in China” to “smartly manufactured in China.” It continues to drive economic growth, social development, and the broader process of Chinese modernization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Li Xinping, People’s Daily In 1975, deep in the Qinling Mountains, China’s first fully electrified railway, the Baoji-Chengdu Railway, marked the beginning of a transformative journey toward railway modernization. Half a century later, on the Chengdu Plain, engineers are developing a cutting-edge 400 km\/h traction power supply system […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n