Aluminium alloy bodies are light in weight, corrosion-resistant, smooth on surface and easy to create complex and elegant appearance. Therefore, it is widely used by transportation companies and metro-rail companies around the world. Nowadays, manufacturing of aluminium alloy body is very important for the development of the railway transportation as well as metropolitan subways. 

 

The development of aluminium alloy body started relatively late in China. Nevertheless, since China successfully launched the country’s first aluminium alloy body with hybrid structure in 1996 and eight years of research on large-scaled aluminium extrusions in the industry, China finally could manufacture key supporting materials itself, lowering the cost and expanding the market. Since the completion of the country’s first automated aluminium alloy body welding production line by CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd. in 2001, CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Co., Ltd, CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd and CNR Tangshan Railway Vehicle Co., Ltd also set up their own production lines and began to produce aluminium alloy bodies. In view of application, the Ministry of Railways in the PRC have actively promoted the use of high-speed trains and aimed to achieve a leapfrog development in the railway industry. It is expected that demand for high-speed train bodies will be over 1,000 trains in the future. This huge market will definitely drive the development of aluminium alloy body in China. 

 

Manufacturing of aluminium alloy bodies is part of the Group’s further fabrication business. The IGM Welding System is composed of tooling and welding machinery for overall body assembly. These two parts work with each other well. Each system contains two stations, which is equipped with an independent welding robot (the robot is the latest IGM RTI456 model with multi industrial functions). In addition, the system adopts advanced laser tracking device, which can adapt to different aluminium alloy welding styles, and can conduct real-time tracking before and during the welding process. 

 

In recent years, China Zhongwang has strived to enhance its core competitiveness through technical innovation and spared no efforts in light-weight development of the transportation sector. In the meantime, the project of aluminium alloy body and parts of passenger compartments for metropolitan subway, light rail and high-speed train developed by China Zhongwang entered into the National Torch Programme. In addition, the project of aluminium alloy extrusion products for EMU and the project of aluminium alloy apron of equipment compartment in EMU were recognized as provincial achievements in scientific research. These achievements have laid a solid foundation for the Group to further expand into the rail transport sector. 

 

With the introduction of a series of international high-end equipment such as the IGM Railway Carriage Body Welding System, it is expected that the aluminium further fabrication capacity of the Group’s aluminium alloy railway carriage body manufacturing plant will be further enhanced.