China's railway department has successfully carried out a combined test on a heavy haul railway with 30 tons of axle load from Changzi South Station to Pingshun station, marking a breakthrough in the country's heavy haul railway technology. The railway is part of the Shanxi-Henan-Shandong rail line.

Heavy haulage is recognized worldwide as the future of rail transportation, while rail wagon axle load represents the level of heavy haul railway development. At the moment, China's rail freight wagon (trains?) generally carries axle load up to 23 tons.

China's rail department has come up with independent innovations in recent years to speed up heavy haulage development. It successfully developed packaged technology of heavy haul railway with a capacity of 25 tons in axle load, which has been applied in some heavy haul lines, such as the railway from Shanxi's Datong to Hebei's Qinhuangdao. The railway department also systematically carries out core equipment and key technology research for a combined test on a heavy haul railway with a capacity of 30 tons in axle load. It has, for the first time, developed a haulage motor and wagon, each with a capacity of 30 tons in axle load, as well as electronically controlled air damping system. Cophase electricity supply and energy-conserving traction transformer technologies were also developed for the first time. Relevant railway track structure, heavy load rail, turnout and bridge-tunnel packaged technologies were also developed and tested.

The combined test involved rolling stock, maintenance and engineering, communication signals, traction power supply, heavy haul transportation and vibration noise, as well as 20 professional directions and 77 pilot projects. It systematically tested safety, suitability and applicability of fixed and mobile facilities during operations of the heavy haul train with 30 tons in axle load. To date, the railway department has finished test on 100,000 kilometers, laying a solid foundation for the development of 30-ton-axle-load heavy haul transportation.

The Shanxi-Henan-Shandong railway runs 1,269 kilometers from Shanxi's Watang town across Henan and Shandong to the Port of Rizhao. It will be the longest of its kind in China after construction, and shorten the existing distance by 1,500 kilometers. The rail will form an outward coal transport channel for Shanxi and Shaanxi.