State Railway Group Co
CR450 in Beijing, China, the fastest high-speed train in the world
China presented, this Sunday, in Beijing, the prototype of the CR450, the fastest commercial service train in the world. It was designed to operate at 400 kilometers per hour.
O CR450developed by the state conglomerate China State Railway Group (CRRC), reached 450 kilometers per hour in tests, consolidating the country’s leadership in railway technology.
According to lists drawn up by specialized media, such as Railway Technologythis speed exceeds the current record by 50 kilometers per hour, set by the CR Fuxing and CR Harmony trains, also Chinese.
Despite the CR450 be the fastest commercial train in the worldmagnetic levitation trains, such as the Shanghai Maglev, remain faster, reaching speeds of up to 501 kilometers per hour.
Development of the CR450 began in 2018 as part of a technological innovation project.
The fastest train in the world was tested in China – the maximum speed of the CR450 train was 453 km/h.
Engineers note that during actual operation, the speed will be reduced to 400 km / h.
Once in service, the CR450 will be the world’s fastest bullet train, taking around 2.5…
— S p r i n t e r (@SprinterFamily)
In 2021, the program’s first initiatives were launched, followed by trials on lines such as Mianchi-Mengzi and Fuzhou-Xiamen, between 2022 and 2023.
The prototype presented this year integrates advanced intelligent manufacturing and stricter quality controls, CRRC assured.
Innovations include a 22% reduction in operating resistance and a lighter design, with overall weight reduced by 10%.
Furthermore, the train offers greater comfort to passengers, with larger and quieter cabins, personalized services and intelligent monitoring and control systems.
CR450!! World’s fastest!!
— Electronic Cloud Sakura🦊 (@ECVELI_SAKURA)
The CR450 is the successor to the CR Fuxing, the first high-speed train fully developed in China without foreign technology.
In 2021, a Chinese scientific study had proposed adding five pairs of small wings to each carriage of the CR450 train, then under development, to reduce its weight and increase speed.
Japanese engineers had a similar idea in the 1980s, but this was scrapped because the wings were too large and made it impossible for trains to run on existing railway lines and tunnels.
However, Chinese scientists chose to place smaller wings on the ceiling of trains, instead of on the sides.
According to the scientists, who published their study in the scientific journal Acta Aerodynamica Sinicacited by Lusa, the idea is an “advancement in the field of aerodynamics of high-speed trains that will reduce costs and energy”, although they warn that higher speeds could reduce “the useful life of the wheels and that the wings would have to be installed and carefully designed.”
At 37,900 kilometers long, China’s high-speed rail network makes up more than two-thirds of the world’s total.
The first Chinese high-speed line – a 117-kilometer section between Beijing and Tianjin – started operating in 2008, when the Chinese capital organized the Olympic Games, 28 years after the birth of the French TGV.
