Cradle of China's electric trains becomes global locomotive exporter

The city that produced China's first electric locomotive has gone global, with many of the world's electric trains now tracing their roots back to Zhuzhou in the country's central province of Hunan.

At CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Company, a subsidiary of the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, engineers and technicians have been working at full stretch to complete the latest meter-gauge train destined for Malaysia's Electric Train Service (ETS).

"For this train, this third version from our [ETS series] product. Compared with the previous project, we've installed a lot of intelligent and economical device or system on the train. So something like the DAS system, the system can give economical driving advice to the driver. So the driver following this advice can reduce the energy consumption more than 10 percent for the operator," said Ren Zewen, locomotive technical manager at the company.

It is just one of many trains produced by the company that are now used globally, from Türkiye to Brazil, and from Belgium to Mexico. In all, CRRC Zhuzhou's products span six continents and over 50 countries and regions. The most recent batch of locomotives for export to the Netherlands has successfully rolled off the production line.

Remarkably, it all started 66 years ago when the company, then known as Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Works, produced China's first electric locomotive.

Founded in 1936, CRRC Zhuzhou and its predecessors have witnessed major advances in China's electric locomotive industry, transitioning from general to heavy loads, from direct to alternating currents, from normal to high-speed rail, and from a sector reliant on imports to becoming a major exporter.

Cradle of China's electric trains becomes global locomotive exporter

The U.S.-led international mission formed a decade ago to combat the Islamic State extremist group in Iraq will cease to exist by September 2025, said a joint statement issued Friday by the U.S. and Iraqi governments.

There will be, however, a "transitioning to bilateral security partnerships in a manner that supports Iraqi forces and maintains pressure on ISIS," said the statement, which on the U.S. part was carried by the State Department's website, using the abbreviation of an alternative name of the Islamic State known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

According to the statement, the Iraq-U.S. Higher Military Commission which consists of representatives from both sides will formulate necessary measures to ensure the safety of coalition advisors present in Iraq during the transitional period.

The coalition's military mission in neighboring Syria, where the Islamic State also operates, "will continue until September 2026," the statement said.

The statement provided few details as to what, if any, number of U.S. troops will leave Iraq as a result of the end of the mission.

"I just want to foot stomp the fact that this is not a withdrawal. This is a transition. It's a transition from a coalition military mission to an expanded U.S.-Iraqi bilateral security relationship," a senior U.S. official told reporters during a briefing Friday.

The United States has some 2,500 military personnel in Iraq and roughly 900 troops in Syria, tasked with the mission of fighting Islamic State militants while also serving as trainers and advisors to local security forces.

U.S.-led coalition mission in Iraq drawing to end by September 2025