Ambition firmly in the driving seat

On the right track

CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles is another star of Jilin's manufacturing scene.

The company, founded in 1954, was one of the key construction projects during the First Five-Year Plan (1953-57). At the time, it was the only enterprise specializing in the manufacture of railway passenger cars, the company said. It developed China's first domestic railway passenger car, first subway train and first domestic bullet train.

In 2007, the first bullet train to run at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour rolled off CRRC's assembly line. Ten years later, the Fuxing high-speed train began running at a speed of 350 km/h between Beijing and Shanghai, the fastest among all such commercial operations in the world, the company said.

"It was not only about speed; it also marked that the country has gained the ability to formulate industrial standards and rules in high-speed railways and entered the world's high-speed railway standards system," according to a report on China Central Television in 2019.

That year, the company's Fuxing high-speed railway intelligent train linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou city in Hebei province came into operation. It will serve passengers heading to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

"Since we have the core technology for trains that can operate in low temperatures, we have solved the problem of operating them in the -40 C environment," Ma Kai, a senior engineer with the company, told Xinhua in 2019.

"The low temperatures and accumulated snow expected during the Winter Olympics will not affect the train. We will ensure that passengers arrive at their destinations on time, even under extreme weather conditions."

So far, the company's products have been exported to more than 20 countries and regions, including the United States, Australia, Israel, Brazil, Thailand, Singapore, New Zealand, Argentina and Ethiopia, the company said.

In November, Wang Run, the company's chairman, told Jilin Daily: "Revitalizing the national industry and serving people's travel needs are the intention and mission of our company. We must use our products to continuously improve people's transportation experience and create a shining name card for China's high-speed railways."