Recently, the research team on railway safety led by Academician Tian Hongqi has successfully carried out the crash test on subway vehicles to be exported to the US by CRRC Corporation Limited, and thus provided a solid technical support for Chinese vehicles going global.
The US subway market has long been monopolized by multinational companies from abroad. Last year, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. entered the US market and obtained orders for subway vehicles worth several billions. However, the US has the most rigorous technical standards on subway vehicles in the world, one of which is that the frontal crash test must be conducted.
The most authoritative domestic institute that can carry out crash and safety test on rail traffic is CSU Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track, Ministry of Education. The laboratory was the first one to begin technical research on crash test on rail traffic in 1994. It built up the only domestic system of real railway vehicle crash test, took charge of such major projects as assessment of CRH380A and CRH2 high speed trains’ crashworthiness, and optimization of energy absorbers of China high speed trains, and successfully developed the 500-ton, 500mm-stroke and full-scale apparatus for testing elastoplasticity of real rail vehicles in June 2016. Therefore, it is the best choice for CRRC to accomplish its test.
On January 13, the test was carried out at Key Laboratory of Traffic Safety on Track, Ministry of Education on Railway Campus, CSU. After a whole day’s continuous testing and under the supervision of the US subway proprietor, experts in charge of technology from the US ARA Consulting Company and principals and technicians from the manufacturer, the team led by Tian Hongqi carried out crashing test on collision post and lateral anticollision beam of the railway vehicles to be exported, and got a series of test data that met the US subway standards, gaining recognition and praise of experts from both China and the US.
According to Prof. Xu Ping, one of the principals of the test, it was the first time for China to carry out such high-standard and demanding crash test on real vehicles to be exported, a landmark of Chinese railway transportation equipment going abroad.
From CSU News Center
