Three new types of domestically developed Fuxing bullet trains designed with varying top speeds made their debut on Monday, which experts said will offer more choices to potential overseas customers.
A whole series of Fuxing (Rejuvenation) trains were rolled out at China National Railway Test Center in Beijing, including new versions－a longer train and two lower-speed versions.
The longer Fuxing trains, which are 440 meters long and can seat 1,283 passengers, are the longest high-speed trains in China, with a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour. Two other Fuxing trains are expected to run at maximum speeds of 250 km/h and 160 km/h.
Zhao Hongwei, chief engineer at the China Academy of Railway Sciences, said that unlike the earlier Hexie (Harmony) models, which were designed with the help of foreign-developed technology, Fuxing bullet trains use wholly self-developed core technologies and are built under a unified Chinese standard.
“For over a decade, China learned from developed countries to build a world-class high-speed railway system. Now it holds complete intellectual property rights. The domestically developed trains show that China, despite getting a late start on the high-speed track, is cementing its leading role in the race,” Zhao said.
Though it was a latecomer, China now has the world’s largest high-speed rail network－29,000 km as of the end of 2018, about two-thirds of the world’s total.
Sun Zhang, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, said that made-in-China trains and technologies have already made their way to over 100 countries, including Turkey, Indonesia, Russia, Iran and India. Apart from upgrading China’s rail system, the latest models with different design speeds and costs can also offer more options for export.
“Lower emissions and shorter transportation times will contribute to a growing market for high-speed rail around the world, although the ability to construct such systems is possessed by only a few countries, which offers more opportunities for China’s cutting-edge technology and devices to be exported,” Sun said.