On March 22, the first intelligent shunting system for heavy-duty railways, independently developed at Huanghua Port Station on Shuohuang Railway by CHN Energy, officially commenced operation. This milestone marks another breakthrough in China’s journey toward the intelligent automation of heavy-duty railway operations. By integrating advanced technologies such as intelligent image recognition, smart sensing, the Internet of Things, 5G communications and artificial intelligence, the system automates shunting tasks and injects innovative momentum into the nation’s strategy of building a transportation powerhouse.
Huanghua Port Station, the largest coal export terminal in China with an annual capacity of 217 million tonnes, plays a critical role in ensuring energy supply. Traditionally, shunting operations relied on manual control, a method that was both inefficient and laden with safety risks. The new intelligent system overcomes these challenges by eliminating the need for constant manual adjustments, reducing reliance on frequent human intervention, and minimizing risks associated with operator-dependent safety measures. It boasts an 85% automatic shunting plan generation rate, a route intelligent arrangement rate exceeding 95%, and a 99% level of automation in train and shunting control coordination.
The system introduces three pioneering technologies on a global scale. It features a cloud-brain integrated intelligent scheduling platform that bridges the data gaps among railways, ports and shipping, a 5G and Beidou-based cloud-controlled shunting auto-driving technology that enables centimeter-level positioning and millisecond-level transmission, and a 5G and AI-powered cloud-defense safety technology for coordinated railway-port operations that upgrades manual inspections to an intelligent interlocking process. Since its deployment, the system has increased Huanghua Port Station's annual capacity by approximately 10.56 million tonnes, significantly improving operational efficiency while reducing safety risks by 90%.
As China’s second largest corridor for transporting coal from western mining regions to eastern consumption hubs, Shuohuang Railway has carried over 5.1 billion tonnes of coal and other goods during its 25 years of operation. The successful launch of this intelligent shunting system represents another significant milestone in the development of smart heavy-duty transportation and provides robust support for national energy security and the achievement of China’s dual carbon goals.
