China'S High-Speed Railway Decelerates After 8 Years Of Rapid Growth&Nbsp; Future Ticket Price Or Popularity

After Sheng Guangzu, the new minister of the Ministry of Railways, took office, the development direction of China's railway has changed, "making full use of high-speed rail Large investment serves the market, but no longer blindly pursue high speed. Spin down After Sheng Guangzu took office, the ideas of safety, luxury and so on became more clear, "Luo Renjian, a researcher of the Comprehensive Transportation Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Railways said that the Beijing Shanghai High speed Railway, which is scheduled to open at the end of June, will reduce its maximum speed from 380 kilometers per hour at the beginning of the design to 300 kilometers per hour. The previously controversial luxury seats will be replaced by ordinary seats, so the ticket prices of trains in the future may also be more civilian Change.

The deceleration is not limited to the Beijing Shanghai high-speed railway. According to Luo Renjian, the Ministry of Railways has officially announced the idea of "set running" recently, "allowing 250 or 200 km/h locomotives to run on the 350 km/h high-speed railway track".

In fact, the locomotive model matching this idea of "running around" is also nearing completion. Anbang Consulting said in a report that the Ministry of Railways had entrusted CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd. to develop locomotives capable of installing high-speed railway and ordinary railway signal systems.

This kind of locomotive is not very different from ordinary locomotives, but it can run at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour on high-speed railway. According to the relevant regulations of the National Development and Reform Commission, the ticket price standard for ordinary passenger cars driven by locomotives should refer to the ticket price of ordinary trains formulated in 1995, which is nicknamed "the poor people's high-speed railway" by the outside world.

Luo Renjian said that, on the one hand, "running around" can save cost resources, on the other hand, it can better meet the needs of the mass market. "This policy will bring about the development of high-speed railway technology and the transformation of the operation and organization mode".

Take the way of "market for technology"

In the summer of 2004, a bidding conference in Beijing Century Jinyuan opened the prelude to the leap forward development of China's high-speed railway. The Ministry of Railways put forward the order for high-speed railway project for the first time - 200 bullet trains with a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

The Ministry of Railways stipulated at that time that domestic locomotives could only participate as subsidiaries of foreign companies, and foreign-funded enterprises must use the two locomotive manufacturing enterprises specified by the Ministry of Railways as bidding windows. What the Ministry of Railways considers in this layout is that it can not only introduce technology, but also ensure that there will be independent brands in the production countries in the future.

This was a decision made a year ago. Liu Zhijun was promoted to the post of Minister of Railways in 2003, and put forward the "leap forward development strategy of railway". The construction of China's high-speed railway was put on the agenda.

In order to catch up with the speed, the Ministry of Railways gave up the self-developed "China Star" high-speed train platform, and instead adopted the strategy of "market for technology" to attract foreign high-speed railway technology.

The huge market of China's high-speed railway is salivating to multinational enterprises: once the order is received, it is not just the sale of locomotives, but the key is that as long as the technology enters the Chinese market, after that, it can continue to collect parts orders.

Then in 2005, the Ministry of Railways issued a large order for 300 km/h trains again. "The final selection of Bombardier, Siemens, Alstom and Kawasaki Heavy Industries after two tenders is actually the result of a balance of interests". Those who participated in the bidding suggested to our reporter that the four enterprises had found the head of the Ministry of Railways at different levels to lobby and public relations.

In the order of 200km/h, the Ministry of Railways stipulated that "10 complete vehicles will be purchased, 20 spare parts will be imported, and 170 domestic final assemblies will be manufactured domestically", which is actually for the purpose of deployment, introduction, digestion and re innovation.

Wang Mengshu told our reporter: "China first took out a small number of complete machines imported from abroad for disassembly and 'reverse construction', and domestic technicians assembled and adjusted the speed in person, then assembled the parts according to the processing process drawings, and finally gradually made their own and then innovated on the basis of foreign technology."

Taking Siemens as an example, from 2007 to 2008, three complete German trains were manufactured and shipped to China. On this basis, China completed the first domestically produced multiple units in June 2008, and in 2009, 57 other domestically produced multiple units were completed.

During this period, according to the technology transfer agreement, the four technology transferors shall be responsible for the training of personnel in the design, process, production, management and other positions of the cooperative Chinese equipment manufacturing enterprises.

For example, in 2005, a training team of CSR Sifang Locomotive Co., Ltd., led by Xu Yunwu, deputy director of the company's technical center, went to Kawasaki Rolling Stock Plant in Japan to receive training, learn and digest Japanese management experience and manufacturing technology. As of August 2005, CSR Sifang Locomotive Co., Ltd. has sent four delegations abroad for training, including procurement and design.

Wang Mengshu, who is over 80 years old, recalled the process of digestion, introduction and re innovation, and said with joy: "The two major groups of domestic CSR and CNR had their own equipment manufacturing foundation, and if they were expert on these foundation, they would break it. In just two years, Chinese engineers quickly digested the manufacturing technology of the entire electric locomotive.".

Dong Xiaofeng, chairman of Changke, once introduced that although Changke introduced Alstom's technology, it made a lot of modifications to the prototype, almost equivalent to designing a new car.

This is called reinvention: for example, the width of the prototype vehicle is only 2.9 meters, which is difficult to meet the requirements of large domestic traffic volume. The Chinese side has increased the width to 3.3 meters, adding a full row of seats. The whole vehicle patent of the Type 5 vehicle that has been put into operation on the Beijing Harbin line belongs to China.

Dispute "Liu Kuayue"

In 2010, the Ministry of Railways announced that "the localization degree of 200 km/h EMUs has reached more than 70%", with the high-speed railway labeled "make in China" going overseas.

China began to export high-speed rail technology and manufacturing capacity to South America and even Europe, which made those multinational companies who taught China how to manufacture high-speed rail deeply threatened.

On November 17, 2010, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kawasaki Heavy Industries said that it and other high-speed train manufacturers did not agree with the statement that China's high-speed railway claimed to have created its own technology, "Most trains are almost the same as those in patent exporting countries, except for minor changes in the exterior design and interior decoration of the car body. In addition, the propulsion system has been improved to improve speed".

However, in an interview with our reporter, a former senior executive of another foreign-funded company believed that China's practice did not violate the relevant regulations, only because China had a competitive relationship with its overseas high-speed rail bidding, which upset patent exporting countries.

At present, the domestic CRH1, CRH2, CRH3 and CRH4 are "introduced, digested and re innovated" on the basis of Bombardier Regina, Japan E2-1000, Siemens ICE3 and Alstom SM3.

In China, opponents believe that the leapfrog development has made the Ministry of Railways bear trillions of debts, and the high-speed railway developed under the monopoly system has squeezed the original railway territory, resulting in increased travel costs and reduced travel options.

Liu Zhijun, who led this leap forward development and hence was named "Liu Leap Forward", was dismissed due to economic problems shortly after the Spring Festival in 2011; Zhang Shuguang, who was once called "the first person of high-speed railway" and directly introduced high-speed railway technology, also fell behind.

China's railway development, which has been shouting the slogan of "speed up", has finally cooled down after 8 years of rapid growth.

Wang Mengshu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a Chinese tunnel expert, said to our reporter, "China has mastered nine key technologies and 10 main supporting technologies of EMUs in just five years, and has increased the speed of China's railway to the maximum of 350 km/h. Thanks to this method of introduction digestion re innovation, the production is from the main brand, otherwise China's high-speed railway development will be many years later."

Wang Mengshu believed that although the extremely monopolized railway market was corrupt in the bidding process, the achievements of the introduction of technology in the Liu Zhijun era and the rapid entry of China into the high-speed railway era cannot be denied.