The Hefei Municipal Development and Reform Commission recently issued the "Hefei Rail Transit Equipment Industry Development Plan (2017-2020)". In the coming years, Hefei will first plan and build urban rail demonstration lines in the central urban area, and in terms of equipment industry development, form a "one body, two wings" spatial development layout, building a rail transit equipment specialty industry base with significant influence and competitiveness in China.

01 Current Situation

Great industry development potential, but also obvious shortcomings

Today, urban rail transit systems represented by urban rail subways have gradually become a regular mode of public transportation. Hefei has already opened two rail transit lines, and the number of passengers is increasing. In terms of industry, China's rail transit equipment industry has now formed four major industrial cluster areas: the Bohai Rim, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the central and western regions.

Hefei has a certain foundation and great development potential in the development of the rail transit equipment industry, but there are also obvious shortcomings. Among them, an important point is that the actual supporting capacity urgently needs to be improved. Urban rail transit involves a wide variety of supporting equipment, and the technical requirements are higher than those for ordinary civil general-purpose equipment. However, at present, some local enterprises do not have sufficient understanding of the quality requirements for rail transit equipment, their product types are single, and they lack certification from relevant specialized institutions and industry qualifications.

In addition, Hefei faces fierce external competition in developing the rail transit equipment industry. Surrounding cities are actively supporting local enterprises to enter the industry and have introduced preferential policies in areas such as taxation, credit, and funding. For example, Nanjing, Changzhou, Ningbo, and other cities already have relatively large-scale rail transit equipment industries; Chuzhou and other places within the province also have related plans. In addition, professional talent is relatively insufficient, and the policy support system also needs to be improved.

02 Layout

A "one body, two wings" spatial layout will gradually take shape

The Plan makes clear that in the coming years, Hefei will take the Xinzhan High-tech Zone, High-tech Zone, and Economic Development Zone, which have a relatively good foundation in the rail transit equipment industry and obvious distinctive advantages, as the "main body"; Feidong County, Chaohu City, and Lujiang County as the "east wing"; and Changfeng County and Feixi County as the "west wing", accelerating the gathering of industrial factor resources and gradually forming a "one body, two wings" spatial layout in equipment industry development.

Among them, the "main body" will build a core rail transit equipment industry base, the "east wing" will build a construction machinery and components industry base, and the "west wing" will build a basic parts processing and manufacturing industry base. For example, the Xinzhan High-tech Zone already has Hefei CRRC and a large number of rail transit equipment-related enterprises, and can focus on developing urban rail transit vehicles, special equipment, key systems, and related supporting products.

According to the Plan, in 2018, Hefei's rail transit equipment industry chain will initially take shape and the supporting system will be basically established; by 2020, the rail transit equipment industry will become a pillar of Hefei's equipment industry, and competitiveness will rapidly improve in fields such as urban rail transit vehicles, rail transit special equipment, key systems and components, and operation management systems. By then, an industrial cluster with a complete industry chain and a sound supporting system will be formed.

03 Demonstration

Urban rail demonstration lines to be first planned and built in the central urban area

While building a national-level urban rail transit system engineering research center, Hefei will develop urban rail vehicle products that are highly safe, highly reliable, human-centered, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly, focusing on urban rail subways, light rail vehicles, regional rail vehicles, modern trams, energy-storage urban rail transit vehicles, and carrying out related technical research on narrow-gauge urban rail vehicles, high-strength subway vehicles, monorail vehicles, and others.

In addition to giving key support to local enterprises in the rail transit field in areas such as policy, funding, land, and listing, the Plan also proposes that, in conjunction with Hefei's rail transit development plan, urban rail demonstration lines should first be planned and built in the central urban area and between the central urban area and county towns, forming demonstrations in products, technology, transportation organization methods, and integrated construction and operation models, integrating corresponding enterprises in Hefei's rail transit equipment industry chain into the procurement catalog, and comprehensively solving the problem of enterprises lacking performance records.

At present, Hefei has multiple lines under construction, including Lines 3, 4, and 5 and Phase III of Line 1, and a large number of lines such as Lines 6, 7, and 8 are in planning. The Plan proposes that Hefei will, in accordance with construction needs, establish a database of key rail transit equipment projects, plan, demonstrate, and reserve a batch of major and good projects, and form a pattern of "building a batch, starting a batch, advancing a batch, and reserving a batch".