On January 21, China’s independently developed 35,000-tonne heavy-haul group train successfully completed its first automatic formation driving test on Baoshen Railway. Seven 5,000-tonne heavy-haul trains achieved autonomous coordinated operation through “virtual soft connection” technology.

Developed by China Shenhua in cooperation with units including CRSC, this test pioneered a heavy-haul train group operation control system and subverted the traditional “mechanical coupling” mode of trains. The system transmitted information in real time through train-ground and train-train communication. Adopting two-dimensional coordinated control of relative speed and absolute distance, it shortened the train interval from 4 kilometers to 1 kilometer and realized precise following of seven trains through “wireless connection”. Compared with the traditional mode, the comprehensive transport capacity increased by more than 50%. It could transport 35,000 tonnes of coal in one trip, meeting the heating demand of a medium-sized city for one week.

According to Zhai Wanming, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the core of this technology was to replace “physical coupling” with “digital coordination”. It eliminated potential safety hazards including braking delay and uncoupling derailment of ultra-long trains. During the test, the automatic driving system dominated the whole process of acceleration, following, braking and decoupling. Drivers only needed to monitor data without manual operation. The operation accuracy was more stable than manual operation. Pei Linxing, a 12-year heavy-haul train driver, said: “The 35,000-tonne fleet operates as smoothly as a 5,000-tonne train. The status of seven trains is synchronized in real time, completely eliminating the risk of uncoupling.”

Song Zongying, the chief engineer of the project, pointed out that the new technology replaced “railway expansion” with “technical upgrading”. Trains could be flexibly formed and decoupled, avoiding the time consumption of assembling and disassembling trains. It also reduced costs such as wheel-rail wear. At the test site with a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, this “innovative technology” not only improved coal transport efficiency but also brought warmth to thousands of households in the cold winter and provided stable power support for enterprise production.