China develops conceptual model of double-decker high-speed train

(People's Daily Online) 

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a conceptual model for future Chinese double-decker high-speed trains, which could be able to run at speeds as high as 350 kilometers per hour (kph), official WeChat account of Science and Technology Daily reported on Feb.19.

The conceptual model of future double-decker high-speed trains has caught widespread attention in the country after it was revealed by media this past Monday.

The double-decker high-speed train technology is aimed at improving the passenger capacity, carrying capacity, and the economic efficiency of high-speed trains, according to Zhang Weihua, a professor of Southwest Jiaotong University, one of China’s top universities.

“As long as we can solve the technique problems related to lowering the center of gravity on the coach and increasing the coaches’ capacity, the double-decker high-speed train can probably guarantee a speed as high as 350 kph just as the single-decker high-speed trains do,” said Zhang in an interview with Science and Technology Daily.

(Photo/Science and Technology Daily)

The critical problem of the train’s potential loss of stability caused by the centrifugal force when the train, with a much higher standing train body and heavier load than a single-decker train, takes curves at high speeds. This has been regarded as crucial in the development of the double-decker train.

Zhang explained that so long as the double-decker train has a low center of gravity, when it runs at the specified equilibrium velocity, the centrifugal force and the transverse component of the gravity caused by super elevation will cancel out, which will make the train not only safe, but safer.

How to realize low gravity center and high capacity of the train? Zhang said that Germany’s next generation high-speed train developers hope to achieve good double-deck space in the train by materializing low floor with the help of independent rotating wheel technology.

Besides, the technologies concerning the overall design of the train body, including the arrangement of compartments and seats (or sleeping berths) are also important to the development of the new train.