The slowest member in the “Fuxing” series of China’s now-infamous high-speed trains has begun operations from Nanjing to the cities of Qidong and Haimen in the far east of Jiangsu Province. While the populace as a whole has given the train the less-than-endearing name, “The Hulk”, so too have there been some monster mistakes made leading to hefty cuts in the salaries of those responsible.
Train D5432 commenced the services from Nanjing Railway Station for Qidong and Haimen earlier this month, running as the shorter variant of the CR200J, with a capacity for 720 people.
The CR200J is unique in the new Fuxing series of trains in that not only is it slow, with a top speed of just 160 kilometres per hour, it is also designed to run on traditional tracks, rather than the specially constructed lines that carry The Hulk’s faster siblings.
Such innovative construction results in the CR200J being able to make use of the same inspection and maintenance equipment as traditional trains, meaning that China has high hopes for the export of the Hulk, particularly to rapidly-developing, Southeast-Asian countries.
In China alone, there are more than 100,000 kilometres of traditional rail track, meaning that The Hulk also has the potential to become the predominant replacement for the much older trains, in a darker shade of green, that are an icon for the China of old.
If all goes well. The CR200J has already learned something of the flip side to innovation. In July of this year, it emerged that, of the six manufacturers which conceive The Hulk, CRRC Dalian in Liaoning Province had an astounding 91-percent failure rate, with 21 out of the 23 train sets it produced by June of this year having broken down.
In response, CRRC Dalian cut worker salaries at their facility by 20 percent. According to the Global Times, “[An] insider close to CRRC Dalian told the China Business Journal that the salary cut is aimed at changing the employees’ work attitude to realise the seriousness of the problem”.
The new CR200J service from Nanjing heads to the cities of Haimen and Qidong that both fall under the administration of Nantong City in far-eastern Jiangsu. While Haimen has little to recommend it, Qidong is noteworthy by it forming the tip of southeast Jiangsu province, on the East China Sea coast at the mouth of the Yangtze. As such, its proximity to Shanghai means that a trip from Qidong to Pudong International Airport can take as little as 45 minutes by car, over the Chongqi Bridge that links Qidong with Chongming Island. Said proximity also means Qidong people speak a dialect similar to Shanghainese.
Train D5432 is followed by three more daily services from Nanjing to Qidong, via Haimen, on the 3-and-a-half-hour journey.
Nicknamed “The Hulk” on account of its slightly stomach-churning green livery, the CR200J is technically “National Green” in colour, but we won’t split hairs here, especially not The Hulk’s.
