On August 16, CHN Energy achieved a significant milestone as test locomotives 242 and 243 successfully demonstrated continuous departure, grouping, autonomous interval tracking, and degrouping upon station entry in the north line of the Baotou-Shenmu Railway. This marked the successful first trial of the heavy-haul train group operation mode on site, transforming the concept into reality.
The "Heavy-haul Train Group Operation" project is one of CHN Energy's ten key scientific and technological research projects for 2022. The group operation mode for heavy-haul trains does not rely on large-scale station expansions or require the purchase of higher-powered locomotives. This mode breaks down heavy-haul combined trains into independent intelligent unit trains, achieving group operation through self-coordination between unit trains. It increases transportation capacity by improving operational density, allowing for free combination of unit trains of 10,000-ton class and below, with an average departure interval of 5 minutes for 10,000-ton trains within a group. This remarkably enhances the departure capacity and train tracking ability of large technical operation stations, further breaking through transportation capacity limitations and opening new paths for China's railway capacity expansion and upgrading.
It was the first trial under the group mode. After on-site verification of all groups' functions, the group operation theory proved basically feasible and equipment development was largely successful. This lays a good foundation for the subsequent world's first operation of a 35,000-ton heavy-haul group train.
