1. Railing Together to Write a New Chapter The first major industry show in China to be held after the epidemic

This year, the novel corona-virus pandemic has impacted on most industries around the world. In China, the epidemic caused rail industry construction shutdowns, line shutdowns and reduced passenger flows. All regions have faced huge epidemic prevention and control pressure and challenges. In the “post-outbreak era”, the rail transit industry has effectively adapted to improve its awareness and response capabilities for public safety incidents. The rapid adoption and implementation of new technologies and new measures has helped the rail transit industry move forward towards the realization of intelligent mass transit systems.

The virus in China has now been effectively contained, with economic and social life gradually returning to normal, and so the 15th Shanghai International Rail Transit Exhibition (Rail+ Metro China) 2020 was held to great reception at the Shanghai International Convention Center on September 2nd to 3rd 2020, alongside the 3rd China International Railway Conference for Urban & Intercity Transit (CIRC) 2020. The annual show was hosted by Shanghai Shentong Metro Group and Shanghai Intex Exhibition, with the support of APEC, the Ministry of Transport of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

As the first large-scale offline professional event for China’s rail transit industry since the beginning of 2020, the authoritative and long-standing exhibition and conference continued to enjoy the strong support of the China Local Railway Association, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, the China Academy of Transportation Sciences, the Shanghai Comunication & Transportation Trade Association, Southwest Jiaotong University, and the Shanghai University of Engineering Science, as well as other government departments, industry associations and academic institutions. The event focused on business matchmaking, which combined well with much needed offline networking, and integrated exquisitely with customized booth models, displays and demonstration zones, concentrating on China’s domestic market and crucial knowledge exchanges. Acting as an important hub, demand has continued to build a valuable platform for communication and helped to create a wave of recovery for the industry. We now embark together on a new journey, making our connection to transit into the future.

2. Intelligent New Directions of Development Chinese market trends show a major shift towards intelligent systems

More than 80 well-known enterprises from the national railway and urban rail transit industries participated in this year’s Rail+Metro China, with an exhibition area of 5,000 square meters. Exhibits covered locomotive vehicles and supporting equipment, communication signaling systems and information technology, vehicle interior systems and technology, overhaul and maintenance equipment, power supply systems and drive technology, planning, design and consulting services, infrastructure supporting facilities, and more. More than 3,500 industry professionals visited during the two-day exhibition.

Companies such as Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, CRRC, Bombardier, Shanghai High-speed Railway Electrical Technology, China Mobile Research Institute, Shanghai Urban Construction Institute, Shanghai Tunnel Institute, Casco, Thales SEC Transport System, Fuxin Intelligent Transportation Solutions and many others actively participated, with their exhibits featuring new rail transit vehicles and supporting equipment, key signals technologies, design consulting, operation and maintenance products, and new 5G technology applications.

The international division of CRRC and 11 CRRC subsidiaries formed the CRRC exhibition group to participate in the exhibition. The CRRC stand featured a world exclusive, launching the first fully autonomous MINI maglev train, as well as its automated locomotive fire prevention and control system, the CJ6 intercity EMU, and the “Chuxin” smart rail tram. The exhibition also featured innovative achievements such as the Beijing New Airport Line City EMU and the Shanghai Line 14 subway trains, these becoming the focus of attention of attendees. In addition, the new “Optimus Prime” member of the Fuxing family, the FXD2B electric locomotive, also appeared at the exhibition, demonstrating the strength of China’s heavy-haul railways. At this year’s exhibition, Shentong Metro Group, under the theme of “entering a new era of intelligent operation and maintenance”, focused on digitalization to improve operation quality and safety, promoting new innovations in intelligent subway maintenance and displaying the group’s innovative application achievements in the field of intelligent operation and maintenance.

As a professional company in the field of smart transportation under China Mobile, China Mobile Zhixing officially launched the “5G+” rail transit solution at Rail+Metro 2020. China Mobile Shanghai Industrial Research Institute has created a comprehensive rail transit coverage system. The system focuses on the three aspects of station, train and line, covering the three core technical platforms of smart station services, rail transit vehicle-to-ground communications and rail transit information cloud services. These are planned to be rolled out as a comprehensive rail transit information coverage system using rail transit stations as “network hubs”, rail transit vehicle-ground communications as “transmission networks”, and operation management and control informatization as “connection links”.

3. World Exclusive New DRT Rail Vehicle Showcased Onsite The world’s first digital-track rubber-tyred tram (DRT)featured at show

The world’s first rubber-tyred low-floor train oriented by photo-electromagnetic digitization, which is designed and manufactured by CRRC Puzhen, “drove onto” the Rail+Metro China site. This series of digital-track rubber-tyred trams is a re-design of the traditional low-floor trams. The train adopts a digital-orbit guidance system using electromagnetic markings as the main guidance method, with visual navigation and satellite navigation as supplementary. The vehicle reads the coded information of magnetic nails continuously laid on the road surface through its vehicle-mounted sensor, which can accurately locate the vehicle in real time and control the rotation of each wheel according to the route. The digital-track train is comprised of three segments with a total length of 30.5m, a maximum operating speed of 70km/h, and a maximum capacity of 302 passengers. It adopts a low-floor design and the entrance height of the doors on both sides is 330mm.

The magnetic nail track used in the digital rail train has low cost, high reliability, is maintenance-free, and is not affected by weather or the environment. The vehicle makes use of various safety protection functions such as speed limit control, obstacle warning, and object position correction. At the same time, it provides the driver with auxiliary driving information such as target speed, automatic stop reporting, and lane deviation.

Recently, this DRT train was officially launched at the groundbreaking ceremony of the T1 Demonstration Line Dishuihu Station in the Lingang New Area of the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. The T1 demonstration line development marks the official start of the construction of the public transportation backbone network in the Lingang New Area China Mass Transit Network. According to the “Three-year Action Plan for Traffic Improvement”, the Lingang Transit Network forms an important part of new public transportation construction, with a total of 6 lines that will offer quick and easy transit services for people of various demographics in the area. The total length of the entire network will reach about 105km, with construction of the T1, T6 and T2 lines planned to start in 2020-2022. The T1 line was initially planned to be completed by the end of 2020, and the DRT vehicle will then be put into trial operation on the road.

4. The CIRC Conference Continues Its Rise With 8 Forums Focusing on Integrated Transportation Development

The “China International Railway Conference for Urban & Intercity Transit 2020” (CIRC 2020) was successfully held for the third time alongside Rail+Metro China, with the continued support of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. CIRC 2020 was organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) Shanghai, the Shanghai Transportation Industry Association, and Shanghai Shentong Metro Group, with special support from the China Local Railway Association, the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, and the Yangtze River Delta Transportation Integration Research Center. A total of 8 forums were held under the theme of “Exploring Regional Transportation Integration and Optimal Operation Solutions”, with content covering regional transportation integration, urban railways, subways, trams, ground buses and other different modes of public transportation. At the same time, it focused on industry hot topics such as fully automated driverless rail vehicles, new technologies for operational safety, vehicle overhaul and existing line renovation. The latest development trends of railway and urban rail transit were also discussed, covering the whole life cycle of line network planning, construction, operation and maintenance. During the two days of the conference, nearly 100 Chinese and foreign guests delivered speeches and more than 1,700 industry professionals attended the conference.

5. Transitioning to a Hybrid Event Platform for the New Era Industry and mass media compete to report on the show

Through industry media and broadcast media partnership and coordinating content through its hybrid event platform, Rail+Metro China offers full report coverage to transportation industry professionals before, during and after the show.

By working closely with the show’s strategic partners, the organizing committee has made every effort to create the “Cloud Rail Academy” online interactive platform. Conference videos and text-based materials can be readily accessed and shared, and more expansive live online courses are in development, further enhancing the impact and communication of the CIRC conference platform. The insight and experience of expert speakers is now available to people throughout the industry, further facilitating industry learning and exchange.

In terms of professional media, the organizing committee and “Urban Mass Transit ” magazine, China E-car network, “World Rail Transit” magazine, China Rail Transit Network, “Railway Procurement and Logistics”, “Rail Transit Equipment and Technology”, “High-speed Railway and Rail Transit” & “Today’s Rail Transit”, “Electric Locomotives”, “Electric Locomotives and Urban Rail Vehicles”, “Transportation Construction and Management”, “Rail World” and more than 20 professional media in the industry maintain Long-term cooperation, regular reports and publicity in magazines and WeChat platforms.

In terms of broadcast media involvement, the show was featured on three major TV programs, “News Report”, “News Night Line”, and CBN “Financial Night Line”, as well as reported on ICS Channel’s “Live Shanghai”, Pudong TV Station’s “Pudong News” and in other media.

The radio station Shanghai News Broadcast FM93.4 broadcast live from the exhibition, and Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, Jiefang Daily, Wen Wei Po, Xinmin Evening News, Morning News, Youth Daily, Labor Daily, Pudong Times, Economic Daily, Ta Kung Pao, The Paper, People’s Daily Online, Dongfang Daily, Xinmin Daily, Financial Investment Network and other paper media and media portals all promoted the exhibition.

PR Newswire’s mainland and Southeast Asian regions released a total of 4 reports before the exhibition, focusing on the push of machinery manufacturing, transportation and logistics sections, and a total of more than 1,000 news and industry portal websites reprinted and reported.

6. Promoting Collaboration throughout China’s Railway Industry Delivering an unparalleled communications platform for the rail industry

The two-day exhibition and conference attracted more than 5,000 professional visitors from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hohhot, Taiyuan, Xi’an, Chongqing, Chengdu, Changsha, Wuhan, Nanchang, Nanjing, Xuzhou, Nantong, and Ningbo. Visitors from at least 30 subway construction and operating units participated in the conference, including from Hefei, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Wuxi, Changzhou, Foshan, Kunming, Nanning, Dongguan, and Fuzhou.

Representatives of tram construction and operation companies from Wuhan, Shenyang, Foshan, Shenzhen, Jiaxing, Qingdao, Jiashan, Zhuhai, Huai’an, Nanping, and Zhangye also attended, as well as from leaders of related railway units such as Shandong Railway Investment, Shaanxi Railway Investment, Zhejiang Railway Group, Sichuan Railway Group, and Hangzhou-Haizhou Intercity Railway.

According to the show visitor survey, attendees engaged in urban rail transit management, sales, technology, and procurement still accounted for a majority of the audience, mainly working for rail transit owners, vehicle manufacturers, systems integrators, design companies, government departments, scientific research institutions, and railway systems companies.

Here, we would like to extend our best regards to all the show’s exhibitors, partners and media friends who have provided such great assistance to Rail+Metro China and the China International Railway Conference, as well as those participants from all walks of life, experts from related or involved government departments, associations and institutions who are concerned about the continued growth and success of the show. With heartfelt appreciation during this special period when the epidemic has not yet been completely eliminated, we thank you for your trust and for making it possible to host this unique gathering for the industry.

In 2021, the organizers will continue to deepen their ties with the rail transit industry, and by uniting with various industry associations we will bring to the rail transit industry a year-round, multi-regional, online and offline combination of activities. We will pay attention to the National Exhibition, pay attention to public transportation industry platforms, and create more promotional and business opportunities for enterprises.

In 2021, we will meet again!