On May 21, 2026, a 120 kilometer per hour subway train equipped with an electric drive mechanical braking system officially began passenger operation on Shenzhen Metro Line 11. This is the world's first subway train of this speed class to use electric drive braking technology for passenger operation. In 2024, Shenzhen Metro, in collaboration with CRRC Changke Co., Ltd. and CRRC Braking, gathered multiple upstream and downstream units in the industry chain to jointly research and develop. After more than two years of rigorous verification and technological breakthroughs.

Electric direct drive replaces compressed air

The electric drive mechanical braking system is a new type of fully electric drive, intelligent, and high-performance braking system that replaces compressed air drive mode with electric direct drive, achieving full electrification from control to execution. The system eliminates complex pipeline connections and achieves energy transmission without fluid media, with fast response, precise control, high safety redundancy, and high intelligence, lightweight volume, and convenient operation and maintenance. It is an important innovation direction for train braking systems.

The four major hardcore advantages are prominent

The system has intelligent green advantages, with a self diagnosis coverage rate of 100% for key components, transforming post maintenance into pre warning; In terms of performance improvement, shorten response time and achieve higher performance anti-skid control; In terms of safety and reliability, the SIL4 level secure computing platform is adopted, which minimizes the impact of individual device failures; In terms of system simplification, highly integrated and modular design is adopted to save space under the vehicle, greatly reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, and significantly reduce the need for replacement of short life parts, significantly reducing the maintenance costs throughout the entire lifecycle. Keywords: traffic news and information, electric drive mechanical braking, subway trains

In the future, it can be promoted to various car models

The braking system has passed the SIL4 certification for China's first electric driven mechanical braking system product for rail transit with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, indicating that the product has reached the highest international safety level requirements in the field of functional safety. CRRC has established a full range of standard, compact, and tread type product platforms for its braking system, and has achieved its first vehicle and mass commercial application in China. In the future, it can be widely applied to various types of trains such as subways, intercity trains, intercity trains, and high-speed trains, effectively promoting the development of multi system integrated control technology for trains.Editor/Gao Xue