Li Yongdong,Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineeringand Applied Electronicsof Tsinghua University andDirector of the Green Transport Drive and Efficient Energy Conversion Research Center of the Energy Internet Innovation Research Institute, accepted an exclusive interview with CGTN Francais on January 28: Li Yongdong —Testifies totheSpeed of Beijing-ZhangzhouRailwayin aCentury. Li Yongdong, born inZhangjiakou, has been traveling along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway since he was a child, and thus has a deep affection for trains. In the 1980s, he went to study in Toulouse, France.Having seenthe world leading high-speed railway technology in France, he wasdetermined to buildgreat powers forhis motherland.Li Yongdong returned to China after graduation. Today, the dream of his youth has come true, and Professor Li Yongdong has personally participated in the great development of China’s high-speed railway. Today, he is sitting on the 350 kilometers per hourauto-train forWinter Olympics, depicting the next generation of China’s high-speed railway for us.

For the story of the early development of China’s high-speed railway, pleaserefer to the article “High-speed Railway Ambition” co-authored by Li Yongdong, Wei Liming and Ni Jincheng in theseries books of“Chinese Students In France — 40 Years Of Memories”

High-speed Railway Ambition

In France 40 Years Of Memories)

Public Account on WeChat:Nicecastle_Paris

Chinese Students In France 40 Years Of Memories

(ETUDIANTS CHINOIS EN FRANCE — 40 ANS DE SOUVENIRS)

Interview exclusive avec LI Yongdong

AChinese high-speedrailway expert testifies tothedevelopment of Beijing-ZhangjiakouRailway

CGTN Francais, January 28, 2022

Li Yongdong —Testifies totheSpeed of Beijing-ZhangzhouRailwayin aCentury

LI Yongdongat theinterview

As China’s first railway line, Beijing-ZhangjiakouRailway embodies China’s railway history andis now decoratedOlympic colors. Li Yongdong, a high-speedrailway expert,accepted an interview and described the development of high-speed railway in China.

Fuxing Train for the Olympics

Li Yongdong,Professor at Tsinghua University and Expert in Electric Transport: “For a traditional TGV (train à grande vitesse, high-speed train), there are no places for passengers in the locomotive since the motors and the control system are all installed in the locomotive. As for China’s new generation high speed train, it is called a multi-drive train, which means that each car in the train is equipped with a drive and control unit, so the train is more stable,starts faster and runs more quickly.The locomotive doubles as a business class. Different from the old model HexieTrain— which means ‘harmony’ in Chinese andfeatures techniques imported from France, Germany and Japan, this FuxingTrain — which means ‘Renaissance’ - is entirely designed by China. All elements of this train - both hardware and software - were independently developed by the Chinese.”

Fuxing Train for the Olympics

Fuxing High-speed Train

On the Beijing-ZhangjiakouRailway, in a special train for the Winter Olympics that travels at 350 km/h, Li Yongdong, expert in electric transport, was interviewed. This line between Beijing and Zhangjiakou is part of his childhood memories.

Beijing,1966

Li Yongdong:“Being born in Zhangjiakou and my father being from Beijing, I have been commuting between the two cities since I was little. The train was traveling slowly at the time, at around 35 km/h. and we spent the whole night on the train, from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. And then I took this train to study and work in Beijing for decades. As the first Chinese railway line, the Beijing - Zhangjiakou line was completed in 1909 and it did not experience muchevolution until 1990.”

Studied in France in1983

Li Yongdong is now a professor at Tsinghua University and a visiting professor at the InstitutNationalPolytechnique de Toulouse. It was in France that the idea germinated in this young man to develop a high-speed train for his homeland.

Gare de Lyon in Paris

TGV in France

Li Yongdong:“In 1983 I was sent to France to study and at the Gare de Lyon I saw for the first time the French TGV which was among the most advanced in the world,with a speed of 250 km/h. So I wondered when China would have its own TGV, and I really wanted to make my contribution. I precisely studied electrical engineering and control. Since my return to China, I have therefore been involved inthe research onelectric transport. Tsinghua University has cooperated a lot with the Chinese Ministry of Railways and the CRRC. Since the Beijing Olympics about ten years ago, the TGV hasbeen bloomingin China. Today, the total mileageofthe TGV network reaches 40,000 km. This Beijing-Zhangjiakou line is the first in the world that allows autonomous train driving: the starting, stopping, dooropening and everything is autonomous. The entire lineiscovered by 5G, so that you can follow the Winter Olympicsonthe train. We are developing China’s next generation TGV with smaller and more powerful motors and transformers. Now, these technologies are already installed in a train and we have already started to testthe operation. In three or five years, China’s next-generation TGVshould be put into formal operation.”

Fuxing High-speed Train for the Olympics