Chinese railcar manufacturer CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. has unveiled a carbon fiber subway car prototype. The company claims the world’s first carbon fiber subway car is more durable and requires less energy than traditional metal cars. Carbon fiber has been used in automobile parts but this may be the first time that the material has been used for subway cars.
The new subway car is 35% lighter, which boasts low operational costs and less wear and tear of the tracks, the company said on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. This is among the innovations that CRRC Changchun, a subsidiary of the train maker CRRC, has delivered in recent months. Another is a specialized electric bus, for the Paris airport. The company began testing China’s first driverless subway train named Dolphin in Beijing on December 30.