China's most advanced electricity-driven locomotive, with a maximum speed of 220 kilometers an hour (about 137 miles per hour), was put into commercial use Saturday on the railway from Zhengzhou to Wuchang in central China.

The locomotive developed by the Zhuzhou Electrical Locomotives Plant in Hunan Province and other units is the result of a national key technological project for the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1996--2000).

Li Zhixuan, director of the plant, said the commercial use of the locomotive on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, China's busiest railway line, shows that the country's electrical locomotive technology has advanced by 20 years and has reached world standards.

He claimed that the locomotive has used over 10 technologies that have never been used in China before and internationally advanced, and that it is energy-efficient, reliable and easy to maintain.

Xu Yifa, deputy head of the Zhengzhou Railway Administration said the locomotive will satisfy the railway industry's need for more powerful and faster locomotives, which is essential for the sector to improve its service and compete with other modes of transport.

(People’s Daily 07/01/2001)