China’s First Duel-powered Rail Track Grinding Train Begins Operation on Xinshuo Railway

On April 5, China’s first GMC-48JS duel-powered rail track grinding train arrived at Xuejiawan Railway Station of the Datong-Zhunge’er Line under Xinshuo Railway Co., Ltd., kicking off its formal operation.

The GMC-48JS duel-powered rail track grinding train.

The grinding train is the first large railway maintenance machine to introduce AC electric driving technology in China. It is powered by both a built-in diesel-engine driven generator and overhead contact lines. Compared to rail track grinding trains powered by internal combustion engines that may shut down due to overheated engines in long tunnel operations and can cause air and noise pollutions, it boasts a stronger traction force, lower noise and high energy efficiency. The grinding train is equipped with automatic grinding and traction systems, so it can achieve high-speed mobility (with a maximum speed up to 100km/h) and high-precision grinding operations (at a speed of 2-16km/h). It marks the first successful application of electric driving technology in long-slope operations at a low constant speed.

This kind of grinding trains can achieve coupled running. Two GMC-48JS rail track grinding trains can be connected together to form a grinding machine with 96 grinding heads, which can be separated anytime as two grinding trains each with 48 grinding heads. This flexibility enables it to adapt to all types of railways, and facilitates vehicle usage and management. China owns independent intellectual property rights for all key components of the grinding train. Besides, its main parts and components feature high universality and interchangeability, and its core technologies are extendable and upgradable, putting an end to the history of key components relying on importing and suffering high costs and long waiting time, thus greatly reducing maintenance costs.