Two steel rails stretch for thousands of miles and crisscross to weave a modern rail transit network. So, how do these tracks change orbits so that they can be interconnected? Presumably, many people have some understanding, this is going to use a special equipment - turnout.

This is not your average turnout, but the world's first set of high-speed maglev switches running at 600 kilometers per hour.

The world's first 600km/h high-speed maglev turnout, manufactured by China Railway Baoqiao, a subsidiary of China Railway Industry Co., Ltd., has completed on-site commissioning. During the field debugging, the project team continuously optimized the timing sequence of each drive point and the driving coordination system of each power point of the switch, and made every effort to ensure that the stress, alignment and driving force of the switch beam reached the optimal state, so as to ensure that the switch was stable and the alignment was smooth.

The turnout is a single flexible right turnout, with a total length of nearly 80 meters, a width of nearly 3 meters, a track distance of nearly 4 meters, and a direct passing speed of 600 km/h. It is the highest high-speed maglev turnout in the world at present.

The 600km/h high speed maglev switch is one of the key research contents of "advanced rail transit" in the national key research and development plan of the 13th Five-Year Plan. China Railway Baoqiao and Tongji University jointly undertake the design, manufacture and installation tasks of the 600km/h high speed maglev switch system.

In addition to participating in the development of high-speed maglev turnout, China Railway has also made many positive attempts and breakthroughs in the field of high-speed maglev with a speed of 600 km per hour.

Development of 600 km/h high-speed magnetic levitation special heart

In June 2020, China's first 600km/h high-speed maglev special traction transformer independently developed by China Railway Electrification Bureau Industrial Co., Ltd. was rolled off the production line in Baoding Rail Transportation Industrial Park and loaded to Qingdao Sifang Maglev train test line. This marks a breakthrough in the development of China's high-speed maglev traction power supply equipment, and the 600km/h high-speed maglev has its own dedicated "heart".

The high-speed maglev with an speed of 600 kilometers per hour is the key research and development project of the national 13th Five-Year plan -- the key special project of "advanced rail transit". Its traction power supply system adopts the "AC-DC-AC" variable current power transmission technology. Through the "input - rectification - inverter - output", the 35 kV power frequency power supply is converted into variable frequency power supply. It provides reliable electric power for maglev trains running at 600 km/h.

China participated in the construction of the world's first high-temperature superconducting maglev train test line

On January 13, 2021, the world's first high-temperature superconducting high-speed maglev engineering prototype vehicle and test line independently developed, designed and manufactured by China was put into operation in Chengdu, marking a breakthrough in the engineering research of high-temperature superconducting high-speed maglev from scratch. The synchronization enable test facilities as the world's first high temperature superconducting maglev train car test facilities, using the domestic independent research and development design, and independent production, independent management of more than 600 kilometers per hour of high temperature superconducting maglev engineering system, developed by southwest jiaotong university scientific research team, built by iron 2 bureaus in China to participate in the implementation.

In the construction process of the project in the verification section, China Railway No.2 Bureau strictly controls the quality and adopts three measuring procedures, namely, initial leveling, fine leveling and check, to locate each track component, which meets the precision requirements of millimeter level. The filling adopts high strength mortar to control the phenomenon of empty drum. The installation shall be accurate in positioning and tight in joints, and all the construction indicators shall meet the design requirements of HTS maglev project.

With the smooth progress of the project, we believe that in the near future, our rail transit will truly step into the "600+" era. Editor/Lin Ping Gan