Recently, the close-range wireless double-heading system for HXD1C locomotives, co-developed by China Railway Nanning Group and CRRC, has been officially put into use on 148 HXD1C locomotives at the Nanning depot, significantly upgrading the double-heading operation of locomotives.
Due to the varying gradients along the Nanning-Kunming Railway, freight trains are pulled by a single HXD1C locomotive between Nanning South and Baise, and by two coupled locomotives between Baise and Kunming. Previously, crew members had to manually couple and decouple locomotives at the Baise Station. In order to reduce manual operations and improve operational stability and safety, the two companies collaborated to develop the system.
The system incorporates key technologies such as multifunctional integration and automatic locomotive identification, to address the various application scenarios including flexible locomotive configurations and operation of helper locomotive without onboard crews. In addition, it allows for synchronous control and 6A data exchange between two HXD1C locomotives, completing double-heading in 5 seconds.
The widespread application of this system is expected to improve the efficiency of double-heading locomotives, ensure the operational safety, and empower the freight transportation along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in Western China.
