Rail transit center opens

Chengdu is making huge strides in transforming itself into a worldclass rail transit center.

The first aluminum-alloy Model A vehicle produced by CRRC Chengdu Co Ltd rolled off the production line on Sept 22. The vehicle will be used at the Chengdu Metro Line 7, the fi rst circular route of the city’s metro line system.

CRRC Chengdu signed an investment agreement with Xindu district in August 2014 to build the China Railway Rolling Stock (Chengdu) Rail Transit Industrial Park in the district.

With a total investment of 5 billion yuan ($742.9 million), the industrial park is one of the two major manufacturing bases for rail transit equipment in Chengdu.

Lan Yuzhen, general manager of CRRC Chengdu, said the success of the Model A vehicle illustrates the company's remarkable progress in its industrial overhaul.

“The new technologies and products will support the development of Chengdu’s rail transit industry and help the city to enter a new era of metro line development,” he said.

To boost the development of the rail transit industry, Chengdu has also set up R&D headquarters in the Jinniu district and a manufacturing center in Xinjin county, said Wan Zhongyong, an offi cial at the Chengdu Commission of Economy and Information Technology.

The R&D headquarters in Jinniu district is based on the CREC Industrial Park operated by China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group, Wan said.

The first phase of the Xinzhu Rail Transit Industrial Park in Xinjin county has already been completed. It has the capacity to produce 1,500 urban rail transit vehicles and repair 300 annually.

The park has produced vehicles for Chengdu Metro Line 3, and more are being made for Line 4.

The city is also working with Southwest Jiaotong University to apply for the construction of a rail transit national laboratory, to support the university and China Railway Rolling Stock in building a rail transit industrial technology research institute.

“Chengdu will become an important rail transit industrial center by 2025, and an export base for rail transit equipment to Belt and Road countries, according to the Made in Chengdu 2025 program,” Wan said.

The city will be able to produce 4,000 rail transit vehicles per year by 2025. The whole industrial chain of the city’s rail transit industry will then generate revenue of 20 billion yuan.