The International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Board meeting took place from 7 – 9 September 2016 in Beijing and Datong in China.
The host, director of the China Railway Society Mr Ma Fuhai, welcomed the representatives, directors and officers from Australia, Brazil, China, India, Russia, US and South Africa. UIC as an associate member was represented by project manager Bernard Schmitt.
The plenary board meeting tackled various issues such as:
- Comprehensive feedback from IHHA Perth 2015, which was a successful conference with approximately 1000 participants in five parallel workshops.
- The next IHHA conference in 2017 will take place in Johannesburg from 5 – 7 September.
- Set up of a technology and implementation advisory group (leader Transnet, Indian Railways, Cars and UIC).
- Presentation of the UIC Heavy haul and long train platform, chaired by Oleg Nazarov VNIIZhT.
- Current status and development by the members.
The second day of the meeting was dedicated to the visit of the Daqin line and its yard in Datong.
This heavy haul electrified double track line from 660 km serves as a major conduit for moving coal produced in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia to Qinhuangdao, China’s largest coal-exporting seaport
With an average of 97 trains/day, a wagon fleet of 40,000 wagons (25 T axle load) and 270 locomotives (latest models HXD1 and HXD2, with 9.6 MW and 10 MW power output) is a world leader regarding capacity management and volume.
This line constructed in the late 1980s only, through continuous upgrade (75 kg/m rails, wagons with 100T capacity and top speed, longer trains and stronger locomotives, radio operation and centralised traffic control, automatic train inspection) carries more coal than any other rail line with 400MT/year!
