News on China's scientific and technological development.

Yes I can attest to that The South Korean comes by the busload and the Japanese too. Recently overseas Chinese come back to study in China after hiatus of half century. Yes it only limited to the Sino world .
Anyway the smart Tram is now in test run


World's First Smart Train Begins Test Run in China: See Pictures


(Photo Credits: YouTube/New China TV)
The world’s first track-less trains have begun the test runs in China. The pictures and videos of the smart trains first test runs on the road are unlike anything we have seen in the recent times. China had unveiled the train that runs on “virtual tracks” in the city of Zhuzhou and the rail system successfully began the test runs in the Chinese city yesterday. Promoted as the ‘World’s First smart train,’ the vehicle operates on virtual rail lines and could travel as quickly as 70 kmh. The smart train is called Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) and was created to cope with the urban traffic problems. .

According to Daily Mail, the world’s first track-less trains began operations on October 23. The sporty train was first shown to the world in June and has been developed by one of the world’s largest train manufacturers, CRRC Corporation Limited. being cited as a hybrid between a bus and tram, the train runs on virtual railways that are represented by white lines and is 3.75 metres wide. The virtual train system is said to be much cheaper than the tram and subway system and the engineers are expecting this chic ride option to help beat the urban traffic. .

The train itself endorses a sleek body with comfortable seating and runs on rubber wheels with a plastic core. The sensor technology helps the train in understanding the roads and helps the train to glide through. The operations on the road of Zhuzhou is a way of testing the smart trains, and several passengers were seen boarding the vehicle. The vehicle will begin full fledges operations in spring and the three compartment train can carry as many as 300 passengers comfortably through the city. .

The smart train runs on white dotted lines

The train can carry up to 300 passengers


Autonomous Rail Transit is being called World’s first smart train


Feng Jianghua, chief engineer of the train was quoted saying that it would cost around 150 to 200 million yuan (Rs 147 to Rs 196 crore) to build one kilometre of the tramway in China while the virtual railway line would reduce the cost to 50 to 100 million Yuan ( Rs 49 to 98 crore). While these trains are currently run by motormen, the project also aims at making them automated in the near future.

I'm still not real clear on exactly how this thing works and therefore why it is noteworthy.

Travelling on roads and with rubber wheels makes it sound like a bus, albeit a large one that trades flexibility for operating capacity. As for being cheaper than trams or trains, isn't the point of rail systems that they have much lower rolling resistance than a road/tyre interface and therefore lower operating costs?

Yesterday at 10:38 AM

Jura said:

now I read
China to build 5th Antarctic research station
Xinhua| 2017-10-28 14:10:58

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related:







La Chine va construire sa 5e station en Antarctique sur l'île Inexpressible, et fait un upgrade de toutes ses stations polaires.

Translated from French by

China will build its 5th station in Antarctica on the Inexpressible Island, and made an upgrade of all of its polar stations.

World's first hydrogen tram runs in China
() 13:44, October 27, 2017

The China-made tram powered by hydrogen fuel cells is the first commercial hydrogen-powered tram in the world. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

A China-made tram powered by hydrogen fuel cells was put into commercial operation Thursday in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province.

It is the first commercial hydrogen-powered tram in the world and made by China Railway Rolling Corporation (CRRC) Tangshan Co., Ltd.

With water being its only emission, the tram emits no pollutants. No nitrogen oxides will be produced as the temperature of the reaction inside hydrogen fuel cells is controlled under 100 degrees Celsius.

The distance between carriage floor of the tram and the rail is only 35 centimeters thanks to the latest low-floor technology, which can remove station platforms and thus making boarding easy for passengers.

It can be refilled with hydrogen in 15 minutes and can run for 40 km at a maximum speed of 70 km per hour.

The tram operates on a 136-year-old railway in Tangshan City, one of China's earliest industrial cities, and links several of its industrial heritage sites.

Super laser sets another peak power record
SCIENCE
CGTN
2017-10-28 22:24 GMT+8

Shanghai's municipal government announced on Friday that a super laser machine has given a demonstration of ultra intense, ultra fast lasers that can deliver peak power of 10.3 petawatts.

According to the announcement, this reading is the highest ever recorded on Earth.

The Shanghai Superintense-Ultrafast Lasers Facility (SULF) machine had already recorded a breakthrough in August last year when the peak power exceeded 5 petawatts, making it then the world’s most powerful pulse laser.

The latest result was released on Tuesday by a combined lab, supplied by Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM) and ShanghaiTech University. The SULF machine is scheduled to be fully completed in late 2018.

One petawatt equals 1 quadrillion watts. Experts said the new progress in laser technology will be used in research covering fields such as astrophysics, nuclear medicine, nuclear physics and material science.

The super intense and ultra fast laser also makes it possible to create extreme environments – which only exist inside a star or at the edge of a black hole – within a laboratory.

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now I read
China's Baidu teams up with Shouqi on driverless cars 2017-10-29 11:01 GMT+8

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Chinese search engine giant Baidu and Shouqi Limousine & Chauffeur, a car-hailing operator, are joining up to develop driverless vehicles, according to local media reports on Saturday.

Baidu will provide Shouqi with its Baidu Map service, while Shouqi will help Baidu develop high-precision maps for self-driving cars.

Baidu will also offer software and hardware to help the new vehicles navigate using artificial intelligence technology.

The Chinese internet company is trying to reshape its business around AI and autonomous driving, a strategy that has raised concerns among some investors.

Shouqi Limousine & Chauffeur, a subsidiary of the state-owned Shouqi group, operates in more than 50 cities in China.

Baidu recently signed an agreement with BAIC Group to mass produce level 4 autonomous vehicles by 2021. It is targeting mass production of autonomous buses with King Long by 2018.

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Lethe said:

I'm still not real clear on exactly how this thing works and therefore why it is noteworthy.

Travelling on roads and with rubber wheels makes it sound like a bus, albeit a large one that trades flexibility for operating capacity. As for being cheaper than trams or trains, isn't the point of rail systems that they have much lower rolling resistance than a road/tyre interface and therefore lower operating costs?

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I think it's no more than a glorified bus traveling in a designated bus lane.I can't see the fascination with a driverless bus as I think we should also be conscious of preserving jobs in a world of increasing automation. I wonder if there is an underground walkway to the bus stop because I cant see a pedestrian crossing or an overhead walkway.

Lethe said:

I'm still not real clear on exactly how this thing works and therefore why it is noteworthy.

Travelling on roads and with rubber wheels makes it sound like a bus, albeit a large one that trades flexibility for operating capacity. As for being cheaper than trams or trains, isn't the point of rail systems that they have much lower rolling resistance than a road/tyre interface and therefore lower operating costs?

Click to expand...

Building concrete roads for any rubber base wheel vehicles will always be cheaper than tracks specifically for trams or trains and especially HSR. Tracks requires more specialize equipment and labor skills to build than say concrete roads with steel rebars underneath it.

China’s planning a 1,000km tunnel to divert water away from one of India’s largest rivers

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Now this seem like a good idea killing 2 birds at the same time converting Xinjiang dessert into land of milk and honey aka California. While at the same time potentially reducing the water flow to Brahma putra if India get too aggressive
Here is abbreviated version of the report in SCMP
Chinese engineers plan 1,000km tunnel to make Xinjiang desert bloom

via broadsword from CDF

China is working on an incredibly ambitious water diversion project involving the Brahmaputra, one of India’s largest rivers, which may become another point of tension between the two Asian neighbours.

Chinese engineers are testing techniques that could be used to build a 1,000-kilometre (km) tunnel—the world’s longest—to carry water from Tibet to Xinjiang, a barren region in northwest China, according to (SCMP). The project would divert water from the Yarlung Tsangpo River in southern Tibet, which turns into the Brahmaputra once it enters India, to the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang.

“The proposed tunnel, which would drop down from the world’s highest plateau in multiple sections connected by waterfalls, would ‘turn Xinjiang into California’,” the SCMP reported, quoting an anonymous geotechnical engineer. Xinjiang, China’s largest administrative division, comprises vast swathes of uninhabitable deserts and dry grasslands.

The feasibility of the proposed Tibet-Xinjiang project is being tested along a 600km tunnel in China’s Yunnan region.

“The water diversion project in central Yunnan is a demonstration project,” Zhang Chuanqing, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, told the SCMP. Chuanqing, according to the newspaper, has played a key role in many major Chinese water tunnel projects. “It is to show we have the brains, muscle, and tools to build super-long tunnels in hazardous terrains, and the cost does not break the bank,” he said.

The Yunnan project comprises over 60 sections, all of which are wide enough to fit in two high-speed trains, that will pass through high-altitude mountains. “Fault zones are our biggest headache,” Zhang explained. “If we can secure a solution, it will help us get rid of the main engineering obstacles to getting water from Tibet to Xinjiang.”

Over the years, China has developed exceptional infrastructure-building capabilities, some of which have been implemented in the Tibet region. “Nobody thought that there could be a railway line in Tibet, but the Chinese government has done so. So, there shouldn’t be any doubts about China building the tunnel,” Lobsang Yangtso, a research associate at the non-profit coalition, International Tibet Network, told Quartz.

But Yangtso warned that the Tibet Plateau has been witnessing climate change, with water crises in many parts of the Himalayan region. “The region is also earthquake-prone and it could lead to a huge natural disaster,” she added. Moreover, any project that diverts water from upstream Brahmaputra is likely to rile up both New Delhi and Dhaka, as the river is a major water resource for both northeastern India and Bangladesh. India has, in the past, raised being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo.

“There are currently no water treaties between India, China, and Bangladesh,” said Yangtso, whose research has focused on Chinese environmental policies in Tibet. “India will certainly have to take a strong stand as far as this project goes, as it can be disastrous for India and Bangladesh.”

They have to built 15 m Dia tunnel,boring machine. I have no doubt they can built it
Via JSCH from Pakdef. The largest dia machine that they built is 9m. This machine is marvel of technology with high accuracy
Largest Chinese-made tunnel boring machine completed

2017/08/02

China’s largest domestic-made tunnel boring machine (TBM) rolled off the assembly line in Kunming, Yunnan Province, on Tuesday.

The machine, named Colourful Cloud, has a diameter of 9.03 metres, making it the first larger than nine metres across to be built in China. It weighs nearly and is 230 metres long.

According to the China Railway Tunnel Group, the newly-developed TBM will be used to penetrate the complex 34-kilometre-long Gaoligong Tunnel, which is part of the railway project stretching from Dali to Ruili in Yunnan Province.

Using Colourful Cloud, the company can excavate more than 400 metres per month, while previous machines working on the tunnel were only able to advance a maximum of in that time.

In January 2016, China’s was completed and boasted a diametre of just 3.53 metres.

TBMs are used to excavate tunnels using a circular cross section that boars through a variety of soil and rock strata, taking on anything from hard rock to sand.