On the morning of June 19, 2021, the meeting for mobile blocking technology release and the opening of Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway of CHN Energy was held in Shijiazhuang. It marks that Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway has become China’s first heavy-haul railway with a mobile blocking system and the country has made a major breakthrough in heavy-haul railway technology.

Traffic Control Technology Co., Ltd. (“TCT”) attended this grand meeting as the head responsible for technology and core technology provider. Chairman Gao Chunhai, as a representative of participating units, released and interpreted the heavy-haul mobile blocking technology. Mobile blocking is an optimal train control mode for improving safety indicators and transportation efficiency recognized by the international railway industry. In response to the two major pain points relating to the world’s heavy-haul railway safety and efficiency, Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway has spent eight years in technical research and independent innovation, and undergone 18,000 hours of indoor simulated operation tests, 12,000 hours of on-site vehicle operation tests, and more than 12,000 special technical tests and verifications. Finally, it has made a successful breakthrough in eight key technologies, namely:

Safety braking model of ultra-long mobile body, Beidou satellite-based train relocation, continuous departure capability improvement of marshalling stations, dynamic switching of different blocking modes, multi-particle train integrity inspection technology, multiple trusted computing technologies for driving permit, smart operation and maintenance health management, and multi-sensor information fusion.

Additionally, the railway has made six major achievements that attract the attention of the world. Specifically, it has formulated a set of technical standards and specifications for the heavy-haul railway mobile blocking train control system, and successfully developed a number of key technologies for mobile blocking in complex heavy-haul scenarios and a set of heavy-haul mobile blocking train control technology equipment including control center, trackside and on-board. Additionally, it has built a comprehensive test and verification platform for hardware-in-the-loop heavy-haul railway train control and trained a number of high-quality heavy-haul railway train control technical personnel. Finally, a high-level heavy-haul railway train control equipment industry has been formed. So, the railway has opened a new era of smart mobile blocking in the world.

With a total length of 594 km, the mainline of Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway starts from Shenchi South Station in the west and ends at Huanghua Port in the east. As an important main railway channel for “west-to-east coal transportation”, the railway shoulders the major responsibility for ensuring the country’s energy supply. Under the guidance of CHN Energy, Shuohuang Railway Development Co., Ltd. has led TCT, as technical chief, Beijing Jiaotong University, China Railway Design Corporation, China Railway Signal and Communication Corporation, Microunion, China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited, CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd., CRRC Zhuzhou Institute Co., Ltd., Chengdu Changtong Victall Technology Co., Ltd., CASCO and other competitive forces in the industry in creatively proposing for the first time in the world technical upgrading and transformation by using mobile blocking, which realizes “four-pioneering” and provides a complete set of solutions for heavy-haul railway transportation and efficiency improvement.

The railway has built for the first time a heavy-haul mobile blocking system that meets the actual needs of China’s heavy-haul operation. It has developed for the first time the mobile blocking security protection and control technology for complex scenarios of heavy-haul railways. It has applied for the first time in the world the heavy-haul train relocation of satellite navigation based on TD-LTE wireless communication and Beidou system, etc. It has also, for the first time, adopted the RAMS full-process comprehensive guarantee technology for the heavy-haul mobile blocking train control system in China.

TCT, as a pioneer of independent innovation in urban rail transit, will transplant the CBTC mobile blocking technology to the field of heavy-haul railways for the first time under the leadership and support of CHN Energy and Shuohuang Railway Development Co., Ltd., once again making a major technological breakthrough in the train control system. With the application of mobile blocking system technology, the average train departure interval can be shortened from the previous 11 to 7.3 minutes, with the departure interval down by 34%. The annual transportation capacity of Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway can be increased by 40 million tons upon the completion of the mobile blocking transformation on the entire railway line. And the total maintenance cost of signalling system equipment can be reduced by around 20%, producing an active effect on lowering the workload of operators and maintenance personnel.

The application of the mobile blocking system in the field of heavy-haul railways will surely bring a new 100-billion-yuan new market for mobile blocking. According to related data, the international heavy-haul line transformation market value is about 200 billion yuan. China has taken the lead in the attempts and successful application of the Shuozhou-Huanghua Railway transformation. This is bound to produce a model and leading effect, which is of great significance for promoting the technological progress of heavy-haul railways in the world.

In the 14th Five-Year Plan period, TCT will continue to pursue independent innovation and apply new technologies such as 5G + AICDE to the rail transit field. It will empower the industry, facilitate the industry towards digital, smart information-based development, assist China in becoming a leader in the creation and innovation of global rail transit, and contribute strength for building China into a powerful transportation country.