The first Changsha-made tramcar, Pioneer [Photo by Wang Zhiwei/icswb.com]

The first Changsha-made tramcar, Pioneer, recently came off the assembly line in China Railway Signal & Communication Changsha Industrial Park. The first batch of 17 tramcars are going to be transferred and start operation in Tianshui, Gansu province.

The tramcars are designed to run at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour. Each has five carriages with 58 seats per carriage and a total passenger capacity of about 370 people.

They charge automatically once they arrive at stations. The rail is on the same level with the floor so that it is pedestrian-friendly and convenient for passengers with special needs.

To construct a tramcar, the cost is 20 percent of what it would be to construct a metro, with tramcars able to carry half of the metro passenger flow. In addition, these tramcars' unit energy consumption is 10 percent of that of automobiles.

The tramcars are controlled by online methods and can be dispatched anytime anywhere. "We do not only make tramcars, but we also expect to realize smart transportation," said Xie Yaozheng, deputy chief engineer of Pioneer. The technological level of these tramcars exceeds most of its kind in the world.

In the future, Changsha citizens may be able to take these smart tramcars to visit places like Meixi Lake. An inside-view of the new tramcar, Pioneer, produced by China Railway Signal & Communication Changsha Industrial Park [Photo by Wang Zhiwei/rednet.cn]

An artist rendering of China Railway Signal & Communication Changsha Industrial Park [Photo/rednet.cn]