China will launch 'smart' intercontinental high-speed trains by 2020, says chief engineer
- The bullet trains would automatically adjust to different countries' rail tracks
- They are expected to travel at 248mph, said Chinese train engineer Guo Yao
- They would be used to transport freight to boost China's international trade
- China has more than 60 per cent of the world's total high-speed rail network
China is developing 'smart', intercontinental high-speed trains that can automatically adjust to the railway tracks in different countries, according to the country's chief train engineer.
The bullet freight trains could travel at 400 kilometres (248 miles) an hour and would enter service by 2020, said Guo Yao, chief designer of China's 'Fuxing' high-speed trains. That's an hour and 14 minutes from London to Paris.
They would be fitted with cutting-edge rail trucks on the chassis, which could adapt the trains to various track widths without human effort, Mr Guo, 41, said in an interview with Guangzhou Daily.
China is developing cutting-edge intercontinental freight trains due to enter service in 2020, according to Guo Yao, chief designer of the country's 'Fuxing' high-speed trains (pictured)
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A rail truck, also known as a bogie, is a metal frame to which the train's wheels and axles are attached to. It enables the train to run on the railway smoothly, especially around bends.
At the moment when an international train - such as the Trans-Siberian Railway - enters or leaves China, workers will need to manually change the bogies for the next part of the journey.
The 'smart' trains are expected to be used to transport freight, helping China boost its efficiency and reduce its cost in international trade, according to Mr Guo who is in charge of the design of the 'smart' train.
Mr Guo said the technology would help made-in-China locomotives tap into international market.
Mr Guo is the chief designer of 'Fuxing', Beijng's latest high-speed train model. The train was launched in June, 2017, and is Beijing's self-developed bullet train.
The Chinese high-speed rail network is the world's largest, covering more than 15,000 miles
'Fuxing', whose name means 'rejuvenation', boasts a top speed of 400 kilometres (248 miles) an hour, but its daily operational speed is 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.
It takes 'Fuxing' four hours and 28 minutes to whizz from Shanghai to Beijing, China's two largest cities. In the 1990s, the same journey took a day and a night.
Chinese companies spent 13 years learning to build the world-class high-speed train after acquiring know-how from leading firms in developed countries, such as Japan, France, Germany and Canada.
Workers from more than 20 Chinese companies joined forces to form a core team in order to build 'Fuxing'. The model was developed and built within three years.
China has also been planning to build the world's longest undersea railway tunnel that would link the mainland and Taiwan.
Recent reports suggested that Chinese scientists were close to confirming the design of the 135-kilometre-long (84-mile-long) tunnel.
China has more than two-thirds of the world's high-speed railways
Passengers board a 'Fuxing' high speed bullet train on Beijing-Shanghai high speed railway line before it leaves the Cangnan railway station on November 20, 2017
China has the world's largest high-speed railway network, which measures a staggering 35,000 kilometres (21,747 miles) as of 2019, according to China Central Television Station.
The distance is more than two-thirds of the world's total.
The country's total railway coverage is 139,000 kilometres (86,370 miles), enough to wrap the Earth three times by the equator.
China is investing heavily on the construction of its rail system.
It plans to spend no less than 2.8 trillion yuan (£307 billion) building no less than 23,000 kilometres (14,291 miles) of new railways between 2016 and 2020, according to a government plan.
Xinhua News Agency reported that Beijing completed its largest ever investment in railway construction between 2013 and 2017.
Nearly 30,000 kilometres (18,641 miles) of tracks, more than half of which are high-speed rail, were complete at a total cost of 3.9 trillion yuan (£428 billion).
The country's newest high-speed train model is 'Fuxing', or 'Rejuvenation', which runs at a speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.
The model prior to 'Fuxing' is called 'Hexie', meaning harmony.
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