With China’s economy on the rise, domestic rail transport has been growing at a fast pace in recent years. However, pressing issues like energy shortages and worsening environmental problems have created increased barriers to rail transport’s overall development. Behind this backdrop, aluminium and its alloys have become a preferred material in the rail transportation sector outshining other materials due to their light-weight, excellent shaping qualities, high strength, corrosion resistance and recyclable characteristics.
China Enters the High Speed Rail Era
Increasing inter-city passenger traffic as a result of rapid economic development has made high speed rail a key growth factor driving urban development across the country. In response, the Chinese government has made massive investments in building a far-reaching high speed rail network. Data from the Ministry of Railways show that as of the end of October 2010, China reached the global top spot in high speed rail development with a total of 7,431 km of railway track currently in use. This expanding network of main arteries is expected to increase to 13,000 km by 2012, including new express links along with upgraded 200 to 250 km/hr trains. In 2020, China will complete the development of its 16,000-km express rail transportation system with four east-west links as well as four north-south ones.
While China sees significant progress in the application of aluminium and aluminium extrusion products, its usage still lags behind developed countries like the US, Japan and Europe, which have reaped numerous economic and social benefits from aluminium’s applications in the transportation sector. This implies that there is ample room for expanded application of aluminium in domestic rail transport, particularly for high speed rail development across China.
Extension of High Speed Rail outside China
According to Mr. Wang Mengshu, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and fellow member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering - “China plans to link its high speed rail lines to Russia and 17 countries in central and southern Asia by 2025. Designated passenger carriage models, including CRH1, CRH2, CRH3 and CRH5, are currently used in China’s high speed rail network. While CRH1 is made from stainless steel, the other three are aluminium alloy carriages. The invention of new materials with special characteristics coupled with advancements in modern welding technology have contributed to the light-weight development of trains and carriages. Today, trains travelling at least 250 km/hr have to be constructed of aluminium alloys.
As advances in high speed rail and locomotive engineering technology expand, China’s high speed rail projects are going global, joining a host of other projects overseas. To this end, the Ministry of Railways has entered into a memorandum of cooperation with companies in Russia as well as General Electric in the US while Chinese manufactured locomotives are also now being exported to Australia, the Philippines, Tunisia and Ghana. The demand for aluminium in locomotives is expected to grow significantly as China increases its investments in high speed rail and exports of locomotive engines climb.
Development Potential from the Application of Aluminium in Coal Carriages
Due to an uneven distribution of resources and unbalanced industrial development in China, bulk raw materials transport relies heavily on railways, which is putting severe pressure on railway freight transportation. It is expected that the demand for rail freight forwarding will increase 4% annually to 4 billion tons by 2020. Therefore, it is necessary for China to increase its railway freight capacity to meet this growing demand.
Developing lightweight trains and carriages is the best way to achieve the most efficient heavy duty rail transport system, and aluminium is undoubtedly the best material in this regard. In the 1950s, developed countries, including the US, Canada, Japan, Russia, Germany and France began using aluminium alloys to build trains. The US was the first to use aluminium alloys in building coal trains and carriages, while China produced its first fleet of 210 C80 aluminium alloy carriages as recently as March 2004.
Research studies show that aluminium coal carriages enjoy a significant edge over steel-made carriages in terms of energy-saving advantages as well as reduced air pollution. Moreover, aluminium is durable and corrosion-resistant with low maintenance costs. While a C80 aluminium alloy coal carriage requires production costs higher than those made of steel, it is estimated that the aluminium carriage will ultimately result in greater benefits after the first five years of use. Moreover, an aluminium coal carriage has a lifespan of 30 years, while one made of steel lasts just 10 years.
It is also estimated that an aluminium alloy carriage is 700kg lighter than a stainless steel one. Travelling more than 600 km, each aluminium alloy carriage will earn RMB37,000 more per year, or between RMB700,000 to RMB800,000 more over a period of 25 to 30 years than a steel one. Open coal carriages made of aluminium alloy are widely used in the US for the myriad economic benefits they create. According to American Metals Market News, total deliveries by coal carriages increased by 50% from 2005-2009, reaching 60,000 carriages in 2009, of which 27% of those carriages were made of aluminium alloys. To date, the US has produced hundreds of thousands of aluminium alloy coal carriages. As the numerous advantages of aluminium alloy carriages emerge, development and applications with this metal in China are expected to increase, creating an enormous potential for future growth
Growing Demand for Rail Transport
With the rapid growth of China’s economy as well as accelerating urbanisation, the country’s rail transport sector has begun a new chapter. As of the end of 2009, the Chinese government granted approval for 25 projects related to urban rail transport construction. During the 12th Five-year Plan period, total investments in railway construction could exceed RMB700 billion, behind only metro underground and highway investments.
Railway networks linking China’s urban areas are expected to reach 1,500 km in total in 2010; by 2015 that figure will rise to 2,100 km, and by 2020 experts predict that 3,000 km to 3,500 km of rail lines will be built. Most of the aluminium trains in the country are domestically made. Since its initial venture into the transportation industry, China Zhongwang has become one of the few authorised aluminium extrusion product providers by the Ministry of Railways. The Group has also signed framework agreements with four major suppliers of the Ministry of Railways, including Qiqihar Railway Rolling Stock Co. Ltd., the Zhuzhou Plant and Beijing Feb. 7th Plant of China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Limited, as well as Baotou Beifang Chuangye Co. Ltd., to foster greater cooperation.
China Zhongwang produces high-precision, large-section, high value-added aluminium extrusion products primarily used in railway cargo and passenger carriages, metropolitan rails (subways and light rails), automobiles, vessels as well as other areas in the transportation sector. As the downstream applications of aluminium products are increasingly turning to light-weight low-carbon development, China Zhongwang, with its business focus squarely placed on high-value added industrial aluminium extrusion profiles, is well poised to capture an ever increasing share within the transportation sector.
China’s urban rail transport network is expected to achieve exponential growth over the next decade. This, in turn, will create enormous growth opportunities for aluminium. Led by China Zhongwang, the industrial aluminium extrusion industry is expected to see a bright future amidst China’s burgeoning transportation sector.
