Experts predict in advance what new railway cars in Shanghai will look like? At this conference
As a new mode of transportation outside the subway and within the high-speed rail, the construction of Shanghai's urban railway is in full swing. In recent years, Shanghai has successively started construction of projects such as airport connecting lines, Jiamin lines, Nanhui branch lines, and demonstration zone lines. The construction of the first underground parking lot for urban railways in China and a batch of application projects such as the "super brain" of urban railways are also being continuously promoted.
As a new phenomenon, the construction and operation of urban railways have always received considerable attention from the outside world. At the 2023 Urban Railway Development Conference held on September 22, Chen Wanggui, Executive Director of the Transportation Research Center of China Railway Shanghai Design Institute, revealed to reporters the details of the new models of Shanghai urban railways.
"Due to the demand for the formation of urban railway networks and the consideration of future regional integration and operation coordination, it is expected that Shanghai and cities near Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai will uniformly adopt urban railway C-type cars or compatible models, which can achieve cross domain operation between each other and retain the conditions for interconnection with China Railway," said Chen Wanggui.
The C-type train of the urban railway will first be launched in the airport connecting line project, with a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour. Based on the high-speed rail EMU technology platform and combined with the characteristics of urban railway public transportation operation, innovation will be made in vehicle industrial design, safety and comfort, intelligent operation and maintenance, and other aspects.
Compared with traditional subway vehicles, it has been improved in width, length, and height, and the internal space is more spacious. Compared to the high-speed trains of China Railway, the C-type trains of urban railways have increased the number of vehicle door openings, achieving large door openings. "Through these detailed designs, we can better meet the demand for fast boarding and alighting of large passenger flows under the mode of public transportation operation."
Internally, the seating arrangement adopts a longitudinal and transverse combination, similar to the Shanghai Metro Line 16 train, and the seats are more comfortable. Just like city buses, passengers can board and sit immediately, and even when their seats are full, they can stand and board the bus.
A unified system makes the operation of urban railways more flexible. "For example, in the future, trains can travel from Taicang to Hongqiao hub through the Jiamin Line, and then continue to travel to Pudong hub through the airport connecting line. Alternatively, the Shanghai Suzhou Jia intercity railway composed of the Shanghai Demonstration Zone Line, Jiangsu Water Tourism Line, and Zhejiang Jiashan to Xitang City Railway can achieve cross regional train operation." Chen Wanggui said that in the future, diverse and flexible train operation routes will be scientifically formulated based on the actual passenger flow to meet the needs of passengers' travel.
The reporter noticed that this year is the fifth year of holding the Urban Railway Development Conference, and a major change is the addition of a special session on station city integration to explore and coordinate the relationship between people, stations, and cities, and enhance the vitality of urban development.
The integrated model of station city integration, also known as the TOD model, is mainly guided by public transportation. It combines commercial and residential formats in the vicinity of bus and rail transit stations for the systematic development and comprehensive development of station city.
After years of exploration, Shanghai Metro Station City Integration has formed a number of representative demonstration projects, including the Jing'an Temple Station Area, Lianhua Road Station Renewal, Xujing Sky City Overcover, and Wuzhong Road Parking Lot Overcover.
The station city integration model of urban railways in their early stages needs further research. "The urban railway in Shanghai center has a large radiation range, which combines the characteristics of daily commuting and short and medium distance travel, and its customer base is more diversified. Moreover, the urban railway stations are mostly located outside the central urban area of Shanghai and in the urban development zone. Based on the spatial scale of metropolitan area and urban agglomeration, the elements of integration and problems faced are more diversified." Yuan Ming, deputy chief architect of the Urban Construction Institute of CREEC Shanghai Design&Research Institute, said frankly.
In his view, the future integration of urban railway stations and cities will shift from "transportation oriented" to "theme oriented", with a greater emphasis on exploring one's own cultural or natural resource endowments, implanting distinctive theme IPs, and creating more distinctive and dynamic urban living rooms. It moves from a "transportation landmark" to a "comprehensive landmark", where stations and buildings merge to form station complexes or characteristic blocks, making travel faster and reducing transfers, alleviating the pressure of urban subway and public transportation.
At this conference, the first systematic urban railway technology series in China was also released simultaneously. "This series of books focuses on showcasing the understanding of independent innovation capabilities, integrating comprehensive elements such as safety, green, and economy, controlling the direction from the source of decision-making and planning, emphasizing the coordination of early planning, mid-term construction, and later operation and maintenance, and systematically presenting new ideas and practices for the entire lifecycle of urban railways." said Liu Jianhong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of China Railway Shanghai Institute.
