"Mr. Huang, now you can explain to me exactly what this place is!" After Huang He and Leng Zhiting finished speaking, the children and parents around them had mostly calmed down and were filled with curiosity about this place.
Since they had signed the non-disclosure agreement, they felt they would be at a great loss if they didn't find out what this place was.
"Alright, everyone, please follow me!" Huang He nodded and, led by the person in charge here, they boarded a shuttle bus again. After traveling in the tunnel for about ten minutes, it stopped, and everyone arrived in front of a brightly lit, large building.
"This is... a platform?" The parents opened their mouths wide upon seeing the building before them.
The building before them indeed looked very much like a platform, except that it lacked the outer structure of a train station. One could see a platform right after opening the door.
However, this platform was quite special compared to others. Currently, the most common platforms in the world were naturally those at train stations and subway stations.
Train station platforms were large, subway station platforms were exquisite, and both had high passenger traffic.
But the platform before them was completely different from train station platforms and subway station platforms.
Normally, a platform should be a concrete platform raised about one meter above the ground, with vehicles parked along the platform on both sides and railway tracks extending into the distance.
But the platform before them... rather than being called a platform, it was more like a vast expanse of cement ground on which three trains were parked.
What was even more absurd was that these trains had no wheels. Three trains were currently parked on the entire platform, and these trains were undoubtedly placed directly on the ground, without wheels or tracks, only supported by some steel brackets, as if they were abandoned train carriages.
Furthermore, the exterior of these three trains was also completely different from traditional trains.
Whether it was the old green-skinned trains, the latest high-speed EMUs, or the electric trains in the subway, their shapes were basically rectangular.
But the trains before them were entirely different. They were all standard cylindrical shapes, resembling long, straight, massive concrete pipes... except for the front and back of the trains, which were standard conical shapes, similar to the heads of high-speed trains.
Speaking of concrete pipes, the size of these carriages was almost identical to the size of those concrete pipes. But the exterior was pure silver, apparently coated with a layer of paint that reflected bright light under the illumination, making it almost like a mirror. If one walked to the side of the carriage, it would be equivalent to looking into a mirror.
"What on earth is this thing?" Many adults were confused, but the children were already excitedly shouting. One child excitedly called out, "Uncle Huang, is this your vacuum high-speed train?"
"That's right, this is the vacuum high-speed train, but it's still a prototype in the research and development stage. We don't know if the actual mass-produced version will look like this!" Huang He nodded and explained with a smile.
"This is the vacuum high-speed train!" The remaining parents, who were still confused, were instantly excited upon hearing the name, and at the same time, they wondered, "Is Jiangnan Group still pushing forward with this unreliable plan?"
It was said that the vacuum high-speed train project was a project that shook the entire nation three years ago, and it was known both domestically and internationally.
These parents with distinguished backgrounds naturally knew more intelligence. They knew that many domestic experts had been seconded to this project team, which caused great dissatisfaction among the railway sector because it seriously affected their high-speed rail plans.
Many projects that were supposed to be promoted had to be delayed, and only one or two projects could be prioritized. This also led to a more severe impact on the introduction of high-speed rail technology.
Initially, relevant departments had reached a consensus with several high-speed rail companies in Europe and Japan regarding technology introduction. This consensus was based on the massive orders that would be generated from China's future promotion of multiple high-speed rail constructions. After all, these companies did not want to lose such a large deal.
But the emergence of this vacuum high-speed railway led to the shelving of many plans, which greatly displeased those high-speed train companies. The technology introduction work was severely restricted, making it impossible to reach a unified cooperation agreement by the end of 2004. European and Japanese companies continuously raised prices, which greatly affected China.
It wasn't until 2005 that several of China's railway locomotive enterprises announced that with the help of the China Electronics and Technology Industry Alliance, they had broken through some technical barriers, mastered some core high-speed rail technologies, and then intended to cast aside those European and Japanese companies and produce high-speed trains independently.
This news drove the European and Japanese high-speed train companies into a frenzy. If it had been any other country, they would not have taken this news seriously.
But the problem was that it was China that was spreading this news, the China that could immediately bring products from gold prices down to cabbage prices once it mastered core technologies.
If they refused any further, and China really went all the way and developed its own high-speed locomotives, their market would be completely finished.
After all, no one could refuse a cabbage-priced high-speed train!
Stimulated by this news, the two sides finally reached a cooperation agreement, and high-speed rail technology was continuously introduced. By around 2007, China's first high-speed railway was completed and opened to traffic.
As China's high-speed rail industry continued to develop, the vacuum high-speed railway project that shocked the world three years ago fell silent. Not only could the news media not get any progress reports, but even within China, few people knew about the development of the situation.
As a result, many people, including some of the parents present, believed that this project had been abandoned and that Jiangnan Group was merely creating a gimmick to defraud money for the 60 billion yuan loan. Who in the world would truly want to build a vacuum high-speed train, a technology that sounded like science fiction?
Over time, not only the world but also China itself had almost forgotten about this project. It wasn't until now, when these parents saw the three pipe-like trains parked directly on the ground,
that they realized Jiangnan Group had not only not abandoned this plan but had even developed prototype vehicles. The speed of this greatly astonished many people on the scene. It had only been three years, and the prototype vehicles were already out?
This speed was simply too fast!
"Mr. Huang, are these prototype vehicles of yours real vacuum high-speed trains, or are they just prototype samples you've made for display?" a parent couldn't help but ask.
"How to say!" Huang He scratched his head. "These prototype vehicles can't move because they don't even have their own power source. But they are not display samples; they are genuine prototype vehicles. In fact, not long ago, all three of these prototype vehicles completed trial runs."
"As of today, the most runs for these three prototype vehicles have been 128 times, and the least has been 45 times. Although many problems were discovered during the trial runs, they are not major problems. We are continuously solving these problems while running them, and constantly patching up and improving these prototype vehicles."
"In the last 10 runs, the prototype vehicle numbered 2 has achieved 10 consecutive successful runs without any issues. If it can achieve 10,000 consecutive successful runs without any issues, and in the future can pass the 10 million kilometer long-distance continuous operation experiment, then this No. 2 prototype vehicle will be the vacuum high-speed train that can travel on the Chinese mainland in the future!"
"What, you've already run hundreds of trial runs? Doesn't that mean you've already built the vacuum pipelines!" a parent exclaimed.
"Yes, we've built a vacuum pipeline, but it's not very long, only about 100 kilometers!" Huang He nodded. "We built this pipeline along the Yan Mountains, which is why this base is located here. After our survey, we found that the terrain of the Yan Mountains is very suitable for us to build trial vacuum pipelines. Firstly, it has a very straight section that can be used to build the linear acceleration pipeline."
"Secondly, we can build large-radius curved pipelines along the ridge, which can be used to test the turning performance of the vacuum train. We can also test the performance of climbing steep slopes and the performance of passing through tunnels. We have even built a vacuum pipeline under the water of the Yan Mountains, which can test its performance while operating underwater!"
"So this test is not only a test of our high-speed train but also a test of our vacuum pipeline design and manufacturing. However, only about 20 kilometers of this 100-kilometer test pipeline has been built so far, and it is the simplest straight pipeline. The remaining curved pipelines, tunnel pipelines, climbing pipelines, and underwater pipelines are all being arranged at full speed. If everything goes well, they should be completed around this time next year, and then we will conduct more comprehensive and thorough tests!" Huang He said with a smile.
The reasons Huang He listed were all technical, but there was also a crucial reason he didn't mention, which was that it was close to the capital, and everyone felt at ease!
After all, once the entire technology is mature, this place will undoubtedly be a cornerstone of the nation, the most important base in China, and it must be within reach, otherwise, no one can feel at ease!