China's first heavy-load railway hydrogen refueling research and demonstration station was put into business Sunday in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
Located in Ordos, a prefecture-level city of Inner Mongolia, the Batuta hydrogen station under China's energy giant CHN Energy Investment Group (CHN Energy) mainly provides services for domestic heavy-duty hydrogen-powered shunting locomotives and zero-emission catenary working vehicles supported by hydrogen fuel cell and lithium-ion power battery.
The station is equipped with the world's first low-temperature-resistant automatic refueling and hydrogenation robot and high-flow hydrogenation machine independently developed and manufactured by China, which can achieve all-weather continuous operation and large-flow automatic hydrogenation at temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius.
With a refueling capacity of 500 kilograms per day and a hydrogen storage capacity of 800 kilograms, the station can fill up a hydrogen-powered locomotive in as short as as 30 minutes.
The hydrogen fuel can help the locomotive run continuously for eight hours, with an unloaded range of 800 kilometers. It is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 800 tons per year.
China's first heavy-load railway hydrogen refueling station starts commercial operation
China Southern Airlines' first C919 jetliner, the country's self-developed large passenger aircraft, completed its maiden commercial flight on Thursday, marking a new milestone for the plane's operation.
The flight CZ3539 departed from the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at about 12:00 and arrived at the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at about 14:00.
Now all the three largest airlines of China, namely, the China Eastern Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines, have started commercial operation of the homegrown aircraft.
China Southern Airlines' first C919 jetliner has a 164-seat three-class layout, consisting of eight business class, 18 pearl economy class and 138 economy class seats.
The Baiyun International Airport terminal has set up several C919-exclusive check-in counters and exclusive flight information display, and arranged special spots for tourists to take photos and a message board for travelers to write their suggestions down.
"Starting from Sept. 21, we will implement a round-trip flight between Guangzhou and Shanghai, and a round-trip flight between Guangzhou and Hangzhou each day with C919. With the successive delivery of the 100 C919 aircraft under the purchase contract we signed with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC), we will gradually increase flight routes of the jetliner," said Yu Jun, an official of China Southern Airlines.
To date, COMAC has delivered nine C919 aircraft to the three leading Chinese airlines.
China Southern and Air China received their first C919 aircraft in Shanghai on Aug. 28.
China Eastern Airlines, the launch customer for the C919, has reported consistent operational performance with seven C919 aircraft since they entered service on May 28, 2023.
China Southern Airlines starts commercial operation of C919 jetliner
