Weekly report 23

In the 23rd issue of our (irregularly updated) weekly report, we proudly present you with the following news:
  • Trams: Trams in China are really in full bloom right now. Since there's really too many cities with a project, I think it wiser to do a category:
  • Zhuzhou: Most notably for being the headquarter of the locomotive manufacturer CRRC (see it in Wikipedia here), the city is planning to have a new type of transportation: the SmartRail. As Chinese entreprises are always encouraged to be "innovative", they've come up with the conception of a guideless tram line, "a hybrid of tram and bus", which turns out to be a bus in tram's shape. This 3-car-bus will be semi-driverless operated, guided by "virtual rails", rubber-tyred, and driven by batteries. The first line A1 is currently under trial operation since 8th May, and is expected to commence commercial operation in 3 months. A further Phase II is planned to join in, forming it a circle line.


The two types of "trains".

I guess the white lines are the "virtual rails" they refer to.

Inside the train.

You can see a promotion video here:

                    

  • Delingha: An even more remote city that's even hard to find on a map if you don't know where to look at is having a tramway system as well. Located in the Qinghai province, the Dengliha tram will have the highest altitude over China, and over the world. Rail tracks are completed now, and the trial operation is expected to start in August. The 2-car-trams will be batteries-driven as the one above. A system of three lines, T1, T1 branch and T2 is planned. 


 (I believe I did this because I somehow have the feeling that I'll definitely forget this until its opening...)
  • Nanjing: News about metro this time. S7 doesn't seem to be opening at any time, and the officials found a creative way to comfort us by posting pictures:









  • Guangzhou: Rail tracks are all laid and positioned inside the tunnel of line 14, making one more great step towards opening. I bet it must have contributed 2 percent to the total progress. 


That's all for issue 23 and see you in the next issue!





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