novelraw #496 - The beginning of high-speed rail
#496 - The beginning of high-speed rail
South of Yandu.
Not long after its completion, a special railway called the Yan'an Line appeared somewhat different today.
Along its 55-kilometer stretch, all level crossings on this railway were now guarded by special security forces, stopping all vehicles needing to cross.
"Today, the Yan'an Line railway will undergo a special test. From 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, all level crossings along the line will be closed to traffic!"
A simple notice was posted on both sides of the crossing, and the stern guards ensured that even the somewhat puzzled drivers had no choice but to wait quietly.
As members of Dongda University, they were all very clear that the relevant authorities would never act without a reason, deliberately delaying everyone's affairs.
Today, they might witness another achievement of Dongda.
They guessed correctly this time.
Today marked the first test of the first-generation high-speed train, the Oriental Star TGV I, and its railway, jointly developed by Oriental Star International High-Speed Rail Company!
Professor Liu Xiaoming, the chief engineer of Dongda University, was stationed at Yandu South Station, conducting the final inspection of the Oriental Star TGV before its departure.
This was a bullet-shaped electric locomotive, its prototype from the main world, but its electric drive technology mainly came from Alstom's mature electric airport 6G. Behind the locomotive were eight passenger cars, each with a rated capacity of 100 seats, allowing the train to carry 800 passengers when fully loaded.
Of course, there were no people in the train cars today, only ballast simulating the load of an average person at 70 kilograms.
Before the official driving test, the engineers made meticulous preparations.
A large number of engineers conducted a comprehensive inspection and adjustment of the tracks, vehicles, and signaling systems to ensure the safety and accuracy of the test.
The test site was chosen on the specially built Yan'an Line test track, an ideal place for high-speed train testing, away from busy commercial lines, ensuring that the test process would not affect daily operations.
On the day of the test, just as dawn broke, the test team had already arrived at the test site. They conducted a final inspection of the train, confirming the normal operation of all systems.
Professor Liu Xiaoming, after receiving all the test results, found everything to be normal.
"Dr. Pierre, Dr. Hoffmann, our tests are all normal. Ready to start the test. Is your test team ready?" Professor Liu Xiaoming said to the heads of the two collaborating teams.
"No problem! Liu, we will definitely succeed!" The two foreigners replied with some excitement.
"Prepare! The first Oriental Star TGV train test begins!" With the order of Professor Liu Xiaoming, the chief commander of the test, the command was directly sent to the train cab. Ma Dongchen, the train captain for this test, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily, immediately pressing the switch to start the train, slowly accelerating on the track with its powerful engine.
The members of the test team, distributed inside and outside the train, were each nervously monitoring various instruments and screens, recording every subtle change in the train and tracks.
"Report to the chief commander, observation point number one reports that the train has accelerated to 100 kilometers per hour, all normal!" From Professor Liu Xiaoming's temporary test headquarters, the report information from the first observation point came through the loudspeaker.
Professor Liu Xiaoming and Doctors Pierre and Hoffmann finally showed a hint of a smile on their serious faces. However, it was still far from celebration. In the command center, apart from the intermittent reporting sounds, there were no other noises.
Everyone was busy, constantly receiving reports from various observation points!
As the news that the train had arrived at the finish line safely and stably on time was transmitted back to the command center, the command center burst into prolonged cheers!
Because this time, they witnessed a historic moment. The Oriental Star TGV train not only reached the target speed, but also ran smoothly at this speed, and all indicators met expectations, proving the feasibility and safety of the high-speed rail technology researched and developed by Dongda.
"Professor Liu, our TGV little darling performed amazingly. The construction standard of the railway track is also designed and constructed according to a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. For the return test, can we appropriately increase the speed and test the maximum speed of the train and the long-term operation data at 250 kilometers per hour?" Pierre became excited, preparing to skip the planned 200-kilometer test and directly go to the next speed test project.
After all, the current state of the Oriental Star TGV train is excellent. From the theoretical calculation of power, the limit speed of this TGV can break through the extreme speed of 300 kilometers per hour!
"Are we taking too big of a step by doing this?" Professor Liu Xiaoming said hesitantly.
"Professor Liu, from our test plan, this is indeed ahead of schedule, but from the current state of our train, I don't think there is too much risk in testing it a little earlier. After all, the test data of the current track and railway base have no abnormalities, proving that our original target performance designed according to 300 kilometers has a solid foundation." Dr. Hoffmann also added.
"I just reviewed all the track data, and the current instrument display is completely within the design range. This is an incredible miracle, proving that the construction standards we adopted in the early stage are very reliable. Professor Liu, your experience in railway construction is indeed unmatched."
The current 300-kilometer standard Yan'an Line uses the standard that Ren Zhong used from the high-speed rail construction of the main world. It has been verified by Dongda's main world for many years of operation and testing, and of course, there will be no problems.
However, high-speed rail didn't exist in this world yet. For Dr. Hoffman, who was primarily responsible for railway construction, Dongda directly providing a construction standard was somewhat unbelievable.
However, during the initial construction verification process, Dr. Hoffman didn't find any issues. Therefore, his role in Dongda's Yan'an Line construction was more of a witness than a supervisor.
The current verification results proved that the experimental line indeed had no problems at 200 km/h.
Therefore, Dr. Hoffman believed there would be no problem in increasing the testing speed to run the Oriental Star TGV at its maximum speed.
"Alright, let's start the maximum speed test ahead of schedule, but the maximum speed test time should not exceed 30 seconds. Also, we'll limit the 250 km/h speed test to within 10 minutes. Now, redeploy the testing plan and test points. We need to confirm the section where the maximum speed is reached and the section for the 10-minute 250 km/h test, and comprehensively monitor the relevant railway tracks, roadbeds, railway power lines, and other supporting facilities."
According to the plan, during the subsequent six months of testing, the TGV train would continue to increase speed and conduct a series of high-speed running tests. These tests not only verified the train's performance at high speeds but also rigorously inspected the infrastructure such as tracks and signaling systems.
After rigorous testing, if all the results showed the stability and reliability of the entire high-speed rail system under high-speed operating conditions, then it would be possible to use the Yan'an Line as a commercial operation test line for high-speed rail, providing the first generation of high-speed rail services to the public.
The data and analysis from these tests would provide solid technical support for the operation of this high-speed rail test line.
After a tense adjustment, the test plan was restarted.
Due to the success of the first test, everyone felt more confident in their hearts about the second test now underway.
The train returned to the starting point and began to accelerate, quickly soaring to 200 km/h. After a few minutes of warm-up, the train driver continued to increase power output and began to push to the limit!
Soon, the TGV train reached a speed of 250 km/h, and after maintaining it steadily for 5 minutes, the train driver began to increase power output again according to instructions!
260 km/h!
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280 km/h!
290 km/h!
With each speed increase report, the command center couldn't help but quicken their heartbeats!
After all, these weren't normal, mature operating speeds, but the train's overspeed state.
Therefore, the surge in speed was accompanied by a surge in everyone's heart rate and blood pressure!
300 km/h!
When a new number was fixed on the test instrument and the train cockpit's instrument panel, the train driver suppressed the excitement in his heart and maintained this high speed without increasing the power output!
At this time, looking outside from the front of the train, it felt like a whirlwind. There was no soundproof glass yet, and the utility poles on both sides of the road, serving as reference points, flashed by!
The train driver nervously stared at the various instrument data in the front of the train. The entire train didn't show any abnormalities, but even though the train driver thought the train still had the power to create a new record, the train driver didn't have the courage to accelerate further. After all, this was an unprecedented high speed for Dongda, and even at this speed, it would probably be many years before it could be truly realized.
Because realizing this high speed not only required a powerful train locomotive but also required fully considering the external limitations of the road network and power grid.
In fact, it required the overall improvement of the entire railway system.
When the speed climbed to the extreme speed of 300 km/h, the train driver not only nervously observed the instrument data in the car but also kept glancing at the timer next to him!
10 seconds!
The train, like a roaring bullet, pierced through the wind's resistance and roared forward. Even pedestrians hundreds of meters away from the railway could feel the oppressive feeling of the gale passing by!
20 seconds!
The train continued to move forward swiftly as always, indicating that the drive motor still had power to spare.
30 seconds!
As soon as the time was up, the train driver immediately reduced the output power and began to slowly reduce the train's speed.
Then, it dropped to 200 km/h to complete the remaining journey. The train driver felt extremely stressed about such an extreme test and dared not exceed the time limit.
The train successfully returned to the starting point at a speed of 200 km/h, and everything showed that the test was a great success!
The success of this Oriental Star TGV train test not only demonstrated the maturity of the jointly researched high-speed railway locomotive but also verified the progress of high-speed railway network construction technology, opening up new possibilities for the future development of high-speed railways.
It proved that the key technologies of 200 km/h high-speed rail had all been broken through. The Oriental Star TGV train had great potential in improving transportation efficiency and shortening travel time. Compared to the 80 km/h speed of long-distance trains and the current 120 km/h speed of fast railways, the new high-speed rail technology increased the transportation speed by more than 2 times!
This test verified the new development technology route direction for the modernization of global railway transportation.
The core part of the TGV electric locomotive came from Alstom, some of the motors and IGBTs and testing instruments came from Siemens, and the core locomotive control system was Dongda's latest computer. In addition, the train's bullet-shaped exterior and main materials were also provided by Dongda. This high-speed rail train, which was currently the highest level in the Bright Sword world, had a very high degree of maturity.
After the first test, a comprehensive inspection of the road network and train revealed that there were no problems at all. The current railway tracks and electrified facilities could withstand a speed of 200 km/h, and the locomotive even reached a speed of 300 km/h, proving that there were no problems in terms of aerodynamics and drive power margin.
After three months of continuous testing, the road network monitoring and automatic barrier equipment at level crossings matured, and the Yan'an Line began commercial trial operation.
On this basis, Dongda began to continue building the extension of the Yan'an Line, with the goal of connecting Yan Du and Jinmen, and ultimately forming the first high-speed railway from Yan Du to Jinmen!
This railway would be the first true 200 km/h high-speed railway commercial operation railway in the Bright Sword world.
In the history of high-speed railway development, this 200 km/h high-speed rail was an important milestone.
With the operation of this high-speed rail test line, engineers conducted comprehensive long-term testing and verification of tracks, vehicles, signaling systems, etc., and also checked and adjusted operating arrangements to adapt to the growing intercity travel needs of the two places, verifying the commercial value of high-speed rail! (End of this chapter)