To seize opportunities from construction of major railway projects including Sichuan-Tibet Railway and improve Sichuan Province’s core competitiveness in the national rail transit development pattern, the General Office of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government recently printed and distributed the Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the People’s Government of Sichuan Province on Seizing Major Opportunities and Promoting High-quality Development of the Rail Transit Industry  (the Implementation Opinions), putting forward the proposal of building a new highland for rail transit equipment manufacturing and new materials industry development in Western China.

 

Up until now, major projects including Sichuan-Tibet Railway, Xining-Chengdu Railway, and Chengdu-Dazhou-Wanzhou HSR have been kicked off in succession, and more than 10 key projects such as Chengdu-Chongqing Middle-line HSR will start construction during the 14th Five-year Plan period. Rough statistics show that total investment in these key projects will exceed CNY 1.1 trillion over the next 10 years, with demands for equipment exceeding CNY 300 billion and that for building materials exceeding CNY 200 billion. 

 

To seize the major opportunities, the Implementation Opinions points out that Sichuan Province will strive to build a batch of key characteristic rail transit parks such as Sichuan-Tibet Railway Technological Innovation Achievement Commercialization Base, Operation Maintenance Guarantee Base, and New-standard Rail Transit Industrial Base by 2025. Meanwhile, breakthroughs will be made in development of major technical equipment, digital construction equipment, new materials, and industrial control software required in construction of railway projects, the industrial chain will be improved little by little, and the supporting capacity will be reinforced noticeably, with operating revenue in Sichuan rail transit manufacturing industry reaching CNY 200 billion or so. By 2030, Sichuan Province will strive to build the whole-industry-chain rail transit system integrating sci-tech research and development, survey & design, engineering construction, equipment manufacturing, and operation maintenance, achieve the domestic advanced level in the development of major technical equipment, digital construction equipment, new materials, and industrial control software required in the construction of railway projects, and become a new highland for rail transit equipment manufacturing and new materials industry development in Western China. 

 

The Implementation Opinions notes that to intensify sci-tech innovation, Sichuan Province will take the construction of the National Sichuan-Tibet Railway Technological Innovation Center as an opportunity to build a batch of state-level rail transit innovation centers, engineering (technology) research centers, key laboratories, and corporate technical centers. By taking major railway projects’ construction needs as the orientation, Sichuan Province will organize to implement Special Sci-tech Program for Construction of Sichuan-Tibet Railway and make breakthroughs in key and core technologies. Sichuan Province will organize to implement a special sci-tech program for the construction of high-temperature superconducting high-speed maglev, and make breakthroughs in key and core technologies such as high-speed maglev design and construction.

 

To build an industry cluster district, Sichuan Province will deploy Sichuan-Tibet Railway Technological Innovation Achievement Commercialization Base and Operation Maintenance Support Base, as well as build a national strategic emerging industrial cluster for rail transit equipment. Sichuan Province will build key characteristic rail transit parks, as well as foster key rail transit equipment industry base, high-end construction equipment industrial base, new materials industrial base, prefabricated building production base, and “Space-Air-Ground” integrated survey and design base. 

 

To promote industrial transformation and upgrading, Sichuan Province supports technically advanced enterprises to acquire the qualification for production of EMU and Sichuan-Tibet Railway locomotives and freight cars. Also, Sichuan Province supports R & D, manufacturing, and iterative upgrading of a new-standard rail transit system, and promotes digitalized and network-based upgrading of electromechanical supporting equipment including transformer and traction power supply equipment. Besides that, Sichuan Province encourages professionalized, intelligent, and unmanned development of construction equipment (e.g., TBM, crane, and excavator). (by Zhang Yuxi)