The 2021 China International Rail Transit and Equipment Manufacturing Industry Exposition, which opened in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, serves as a window to the country's latest innovations and development in rail transit.

One example is the smart rail trains, which run on batteries and open up a new chapter of urban transport.

With the help of landmark lines, the trains drive on the virtual rail through automatic tracking and multinetwork integrated control technology.

The smart rail system is flexible with a large passenger capacity, short construction period and small investment.

Smart rail trains can reach a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour.

In large cities, the system can be used as an important supplement to the diversified and three-dimensional rail transit system.

Another "star product" in the expo is the maglev train, which has provided great convenience for people's daily travel.

Compared with ordinary tracked trains, maglev trains have a high speed, zero pollution and low energy consumption.

In Hunan, by relying on strong technical and industrial advantages in the rail transit field, the research and development, production and operation of maglev trains are at the forefront of the country.

The Changsha Maglev Express is China's first low-to-medium-speed maglev railway with independent intellectual property rights.

Launched on May 6, 2016, the maglev connects the Changsha South Railway Station with Changsha Huanghua International Airport.

In the five years since its establishment, it has transported more than 16 million passengers.

On July 1 of this year, the Changsha Maglev Express Line increased its speed across the board and became the world's first medium-to-low-speed maglev train to be put into commercial operation at 140 kilometers per hour.

On July 20, the world's first high-speed maglev transport system with a speed of 600 km/h was unveiled in Qingdao, Shandong province. It became the fastest ground vehicle of its kind in the world.

The core power equipment of the system and its linear motor were developed by CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive.

A new technological revolution, characterized by big data, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence, has promoted the accelerated transformation of the rail transit field to intelligence.

For example, as an important means of transportation for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway applies human-computer interaction technologies powered by cloud computing, internet of things, big data, Beidou positioning, 5G and AI.

As China's first intelligent railway, the completion of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway marks the transition of China's railways from the high-speed era to the intelligent era.

The Changsha Maglev Express increases its speed to 140 kilometers per hour this year. CHINA DAILY