Recently, at the 60th Annual Conference and Global Industry Awards Ceremony of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) held in London, UK, the project "Virtual Coupling Technology and Its Application in Urban Rail Transit," jointly developed by Traffic Control Technology Co., Ltd. in collaboration with Beijing Jiaotong University and Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd., stood out from fierce competition among over ten top industry teams from around the world and won the inaugural and globally unique "Innovation Award."

Winning this highest technical honor in the global rail transit signaling field marks a historic leap for China's next-generation urban rail signaling technology, officially transitioning from following to leading. It fully validates the top-tier technical strength and industry-leading position of Chinese enterprises in the global rail transit signaling sector.

PART 01 Milestone Moment: Chinese Technology Takes the Global Stage

Founded in 1912, the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) is the oldest, most authoritative, and influential professional body in the global rail transit signaling and control systems field. Its annual Innovation Award is hailed as the "Oscar" of the industry, representing the highest level of global rail transit signaling technology. This year's awards ceremony brought together top global industry experts and corporate representatives to focus on cutting-edge technological innovations and industry development trends, jointly witnessing the birth of the annual technology benchmark.

Traffic Control Technology's award-winning Virtual Coupling Technology, with its disruptive technological innovation, engineering validation, and industry-leading value, achieved a comprehensive breakthrough in the world's first engineering-oriented application of this technology, becoming the first Chinese urban rail signaling project to receive this honor. This is also another major innovation in the rail transit train control domain for Traffic Control Technology, following its achievements in Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC), Fully Automatic Operation (FAO), and Perception-based Train Autonomous Control System (PB-TACS). This award significantly enhances China's visibility and influence in the global rail transit train control sector, better supporting the "going global" strategy for China's rail transit technology and equipment.

PART 02 Technological Breakthrough: Virtual Coupling Empowers Urban Rail Operational Flexibility

Leveraging its unique advantages in dynamically adapting to passenger flow and efficiently utilizing track and vehicle resources, Virtual Coupling Technology has become an effective means to improve passenger satisfaction and the utilization rate of resources such as rolling stock, tracks, personnel, and energy. It is a cutting-edge innovation hotspot in the global rail transit field.

This system breaks the limitations of traditional physical coupler marshalling. Through wireless communication information exchange and automatic control technology, it couples two trains as a single unit to perform transportation tasks, managing them uniformly as one train. The "coupled" pair can also be "uncoupled" online based on operational needs. The Virtual Coupling Technology has undergone engineering line testing and validation, has received safety certification from internationally renowned third-party authorities, and has obtained authorization for passenger trial operation. As the industry's first virtual coupling system qualified for passenger-carrying operations, it provides key support for flexible transportation organization and efficient resource utilization in rail transit, holding significant industry application value and promotion prospects.

Conclusion

This award is a high recognition from the international industry for the innovation capability of China's urban rail signaling technology and an affirmation of Traffic Control Technology's years of persistent independent research and development and technological advancement. As a leading enterprise in China's urban rail transit signaling systems, deeply engaged in the core technology of rail transit operation control systems, we will continue to promote the engineering and large-scale application of Virtual Coupling Technology. We are committed to contributing more original technological achievements to support the high-quality development of the global rail transit industry, offering Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions.