By+staff+reporter+DANG+XIAOFEI

IT used to be the case that in order to buy a Boeing aircraft China needed to sell 800 million shirts and blouses. Now things have changed. The countrys manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly high-tech. A key example is Chinas cutting-edge high-speed railway technologies. Reliable and cost-effective， they are a glowing achivement on the countrys highend manufacturing resume.

Although a latecomer， China quickly moved to the forefront of high-speed railway technology within the space of nine years. You may wonder what the secret was to its quick success and what resulted from the radiation-effect it created.

Success from Innovation

On the Chinese mainland， a high-speed rail network stretches across the country. Lines track across plains， rivers， deserts， plateaus of permafrost or tropical forests – and plenty more are still to come. For most travelers， high-speed railway is no longer a thing of the future； instead， it has become a necessity.

In 2007， China launched its first selfmade multiple unit （MU） train with a speed of 300 km per hour. In 2010， the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway managed to reach 486.1 km per hour， and in 2016， two “China-standard” EMU（electric multiple unit） trains， the Golden Phoenix and Dolphin Blue， ran past each other at a speed exceeding 420 km per hour， which means passengers on each train were travelling at 117 meters per second… These are the highlights of Chinas high-speed railway history so far.

“Innovation is the key to our technological breakthroughs，” said Shang Jing， vice president and chief engineer of Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co.， Ltd. At present， Chinas high-speed railway technology is among the most advanced in the world.

“China-standard” EMU trains， the latest generation of high-speed trains， signify that China has grasped the core technology in this field. Shang Jing explained， “‘China-standard EMU trains were developed independently by our country. Its core system is 100 percent developed by China.”

“In order to reduce noise， we have set up a special investigative research team. During the day when the trains are operational， our technicians analyze the data， and at night when the trains are off the tracks， they verify it. We have improved the software on the trains over 100 times.”

Through trial and error， the noise produced when the train starts is now limited to between 76 and 78 decibels， compared with the 80 decibels of their foreign competitors. “This small reduction is not to be sneezed at. Passengers now need not endure highpitch noise when boarding the trains.” Shang Jing told us this was just one minor example of the innovations his team has achieved.