Briefs

China’s rail vehicle manufacturer will roll out 25 new generation bullet trains worth up to $1.84 billion in October.
An insider at CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co, which built the state-of-the-art locomotives, confirmed they would be handed over to the parent company, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, in the fall.
“This is another example of the company’s ability to develop and manufacture high-tech trains,” said the manager, who requested anonymity. “It also helps manufacturing here.”
The “Fuxing” class bullet trains use wholly self-developed core technologies and are built under a unified Chinese standard. Each train sells for between 400 million yuan ($58.8 million) to 500 million yuan.
Four of the 25 new engines have already been delivered to the parent company, while two models, CR400AF and CR400BF, are going through trials on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, the manager said.
The Fuxing class trains are designed to travel at 350 kilometres per hour on average with a maximum speed of 400 km/h, designers at the China Academy of Railway Sciences, or CARS, revealed in a statement.
Zhao Hongwei, chief engineer with CARS, said the bullet trains with an average speed of 350 km/h, are suitable for long-range mainlines such as Beijing-Guangzhou line, as well as intercity lines such as the Beijing-Tianjin route.
“In the future, production of the new trains would definitely surge,” Zhao was quoted as saying by Chinanews.com.
CRRC will obviously be hoping to find overseas buyers for its new locomotives.
Apart from upgrading China’s bullet train sector, these latest models were also designed and produced for the export market, according to the CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles insider.
“They can be manufactured to the needs of foreign customers,” the manager said. “After all, production standards and operating environments can vary in different countries and regions.”
Last year, revenue from CRRC’s listed arm CRRC Corp Ltd reached almost 230 billion yuan (Bt1.1 trillion) with export orders contributing more than eight percent of overall turnover.
This has helped CRRC develop and grow by pumping resources into research. – China Daily 

CHINA EASTERN TO OPEN BEIJING-KUNMING-CHIANG MAI AIR ROUTE

China Eastern Yunnan Airlines plan launched the Beijing-Kunming-Chiang Mai air route July 1.
Boeing 737H airplanes will fly the route daily with flight numbers of MU2569 and MU2570.
Flight MU2569 is scheduled to take off from Beijing at 8:05 and arrive in Chiang Mai at 15:25, with a 170-minute stay in Kunming from 11:40 to 14:30.
The return flight MU2570 will leave Chiang Mai at 8:30 and first reach Kunming at 11:40. Then, it will leave Kunming at 16:00 and get to Beijing at 19:25. (all local times) – Yunnan Daily