That the design speed is increased by 50 km/h and automatic gauge change can be realized means that the arrival speed will be faster, the time used will be less and the travel will be made more convenient between cities and countries. In 2016, the Ministry of Science and Technology took the lead in launching “key technologies for high-speed passenger transport equipment at speed of 400 km/h or above”. The project was organized and carried out by CRRC, and CRV, in collaboration with more than 30 units, was said to have managed to made breakthroughs in such core technologies as high-speed EMU system integration, variable structure control and traction converter. 

During the test run, automatic track change was not detected. This is exactly the precondition for international railways with different climatic conditions, different gauges and different power supply standards. According to Wang Lei, a senior design expert of CRV, there are four gauge standards in the world, namely, standard gauge, wide gauge of Russia, wide gauge of Europe and meter gauge. In the past for cross-border railway transportation between countries with different gauge sizes, train bodies must be raised, and train bogies be replaced which took at least two or three hours without the time used for testing calculated. Now, such the variable structure control system is able to change in operation with variable gauge bogies in a short period of three minutes, which in turn can greatly improve the efficiency of cross-border interconnection with less transportation cost. 

The “multi-objective balanced energy-saving technology” adopted for the train can reduce the energy consumption per capita by 10% and the noise by 2 decibels per kilometer. It means that when the train runs at a speed of 400km/h, the energy consumption and noise level are the same as those of the train running at a speed of 350km/h, that is, energy consumption is not increased when the speed is increased. 

In the meantime, the application of such technologies as intelligent composite sensor, big data and feature extraction enables the train with intelligent evaluation, state diagnosis and early alarming. In addition, on-board equipment, train-ground data transmission and ground system can ensure safety, intelligent maintenance and operation under the condition of ± 50 ℃. 

The successful launch of the product indicates that China can make high-speed trains for cross-border connectivity according to the technical standards and operating service requirements of various regions in the world so as to establish a leading technology and standard system of high-speed passenger transport equipment for rail transit around the world.