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Cetrovo 1.0, reported to be China’s first carbon fiber subway train, began passenger service on Jan. 24 in the port city of Qingdao in east China’s Shandong Province. Since its development in 2021, the Cetrovo 1.0 has completed more than 50 technical evaluations, proving its safety and reliability.

The subway train, operating on a 37.2-mile route with 41 stations, was a collaborative effort between CG Rail GmbH, Chinese-German Research and Development Center for Railway and Traffic Technology Dresden and CRRC Sifang. Qingdao Metro Group, Harbin FRP Institute, Weihai Guangwei Composite and Avic Composite were also involved to achieve Cetrovo 1.0’s carbon fiber-intensive design.

A composite body and bogie frame reduce the car body’s weight by 25% and 50%, respectively, , which makes the train’s total weight “11% lighter compared with conventional trains.” Cetrovo 1.0’s engineers note up to 7% reduced energy consumption per train during operation, which eliminates 130 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.

Read “Carbon fiber metro train to hit the rails in China”

According to a LinkedIn post , the application of carbon fiber for a rail vehicle’s structural components is a relatively new field and resulted in many challenges. For example was the development of a suitable lightweight design approach for the Cetrovo 1.0’s highly loaded main subsystems (like the car body), considering valid standards (DIN EN 12663, EN 45545 and son on) as well as the limitations of composites manufacturing technologies (complex shapes, fiber orientation, cost, level of automation).

“One of the results was the further development of the pultrusion process by CG Rail for the cost-efficient and continuous production of textile-reinforced CFRP profiles with a multi-chamber cross-section,” CG Rail says. “Such lightweight profiles can be used to build up very light frame structures like those required for the car body of a rail vehicle.”