China's driverless heavy-haul train makes technological breakthrough

(ECNS) -- An over 10,000-metric-ton driverless heavy-haul train completed its first trial run on Thursday, marking a new technological breakthrough in China.

The train departed from Huanghua South Railway Station in north China’s Hebei Province at 8:36 a.m. and arrived at Dongying West Railway Station in east China’s Shandong Province after two and a half hours of smooth operation.

During the trail operation, there are three technologies filling in the domestic gaps in related fields, realizing unmanned train driving and station control.

When unmanned driving technology becomes widely applied, the average running speed of trains is expected to increase by 1.7 km/h while the average traction energy consumption will decrease by 2.9 percent. This will greatly improve the efficiency of China's west-to-east coal transportation.

With a total length of about 1.3 kilometers, the train consists of 108 carriages and weighs about 10,800 metric tons. Independent control has been achieved in terms of key technologies, management, and control modes.

The test was conducted on the Shuozhou-Huanghua route, one of the major heavy-haul railways for China's west-to-east coal transportation program.