Railway group tracks course of innovation

New alliance aims to research key tech, promote achievements and train talent

A railway science and technology innovation alliance was established in Beijing on Friday, aimed at gathering resources to conduct joint research on key technologies, promote the industrial application of railway innovation achievements and enhance technological communication and talent training, China State Railway Group, the national railway operator, said on Saturday.

The alliance, led by CSRG, consists of key enterprises, universities and research institutes striving for deep integration of the academic, research and industrial sectors.

With its joint research efforts, the alliance hopes to make breakthroughs in key technologies. It will allocate resources to contribute to the country's strategic plans, and it will study global technological problems, take up key tasks and promote technological and innovation capability in the field.

It will also promote the industrial application of railway innovation achievements. Efforts will be made to promote the deep integration of the railway sector's innovations and industrial applications. It aims to accelerate the application of innovation results based on China's huge market and various geographical conditions. At the same time, research and development and industrialization will be promoted to help encourage the use of China's railway technology overseas.

The alliance will also look to develop science and technological talent with innovation capability in the railway sector. It will establish a platform for railway technology exchange and achievement exhibitions, deepen technical exchanges and cooperation in China and abroad in key fields, attract and gather talent in different fields, and jointly train strategic scientists, leading scientific and technological talent and high-level innovation teams in the railway field.

There are 18 members of the alliance, including China Railway Construction Group, Beijing Jiaotong University and Huawei Technologies. More members will be added as needed.

According to the science, technology and information department of CSRG, China's railway technology is ranked among the best in the world, particularly with its high-speed railways, plateau railways, railways in extremely cold climates and heavy-load railways.

China has overcome some technical problems that other nations face in their railway development, such as building long bridges and tunnels to make areas passable. Comprehensive technologies such as building high-speed railways under different climate and geological conditions have also been developed.

Furthermore, China has constructed the advanced Fuxing bullet trains with fully independent intellectual property rights, and has established an online railway ticket booking system that is popular among passengers.

China's railway network has extended to 155,000 kilometers — 42,000 of which are high-speed railways, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total length of such networks worldwide.