China begins testing of 1st suspension railway

China today began testing its first suspension railway system with battery-powered panda-themed carriages in the southwest Sichuan province's Chengdu city.
Suspension railway, the cutting-edge rail system also known as hanging railway, is a form of elevated monorail where the vehicle is suspended from a fixed track.
The new railway line, located in the Southwest Shuangliu Airport Economic Development Area, is 1,416-meter-long and suspended eight meters above the ground.
The train, which is decorated in black and white as a panda, can carry 230 passengers per coach and reach a speed of 60 kms per hour, state-run Global Times quoted local media reports as saying.

"The speed will be raised up to 70 or 80 kms per hour if the train runs in the countryside or scenic areas," said Zhai Wanming, chief designer of the project at Southwest Jiaotong University.
Zhai said it is the world's first lithium-battery-powered suspension railway line. Though Germany and Japan are also capable of building suspension railway lines, they use high voltage grids as their power supply.

"Suspension railways occupy little space and thus will bring no changes in the city's already established transportation system. In addition, the lines cost less than 100 million yuan (USD 15 million) per kms, about one-eighth to one-fifth of the cost of subways, and are able to be put into operation within one year," Zhai said.

Chengdu has plans to build another two suspension lines which will be open to the public.
The construction of the first line will start next year if the test run goes smoothly, news portal thepaper.Cn reported.
The test runs will continue for tens of thousands of kilometers to check performance capabilities before official operation, Zhai said, adding that a set of technical standards will be made based on the test results.
However, Zhai said the suspension line cannot become the main means of transportation in cities, and traffic congestion in cities could only be eased by the construction of an urban multi-level transportation system.

One of the earliest electrical elevated railway systems, built in the German city of Wuppertal, came into operation in 1901 and is still in service as of today, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.