Journey of Increasing the Customer Value

Tommy Lu, Account Manager CRRC, HARTING China

When BII comes to HARTING for customised projects

Addressing the growing demands for customised solutions for Chinese customers, HARTING Customised Solutions (HCS) China team and the HARTING Regional Service Centre for Customised Solutions in Zhuhai have endeavoured for years to provide more appreciable value-added service experiences for customers such as Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd.

In Beijing, China, there are increasingly more subway lines under construction in recent years. On the body of almost every subway train, the logo of Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as BII) shows up. In fact, with the rapid increase in the demand for trains in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, BII is increasingly acknowledging the strong assistance from HARTING’s customised rail transit electrical connection concepts and systems.

Customised and innovative solutions

On the eight-carriage or six-carriage BII trains, jumper connection between carriages is necessary to ensure the power and signal transmission. In addition, a similar power transmission connection is also required on the motor of the traction system under the carriage. These key connection systems, which can be called the "lifeline" of the train body, are required to guarantee the high product reliability and stability, rapid installation and simple maintenance that BII urgently needs.

The greatest value of this solution for BII lies in its plug-and-play function. 

It is no longer necessary to assemble the components step by step as before, which greatly simplifies the connection for this type of carriages. Before handing the solution over to BII, it has been processed strictly and tested rather than just being assembled. Therefore, BII can apply the solutions directly to marshalling, commissioning and can perform flexible and simple maintenance. For example, the terminal rail transit operation company can also be quickly disassembled and organise carriages during maintenance.

HARTING's customised solution also fully considers the requirements of customers with small and lightweight products like BII. Its relevant products have passed the quality certification system such as EN 50467 railway connector and ISO/TS22163, which fully meet the requirements of the rail transit industry. In this context, Lizhi Wang, a solution designer of HARTING Customised Solutions (HCS) China, explained: “Motor connectors like Han® HPR EasyCon are very light and compact, which meet the popular demand for miniaturisation, greatly saving on installation space and reducing body weight, while featuring ultra-strong EMC protection capabilities to ensure the stable power source of railway vehicles!”

Meticulous and customer-oriented

Since getting to know BII in 2017, the HARTING HCS team has understood their needs through the preliminary customer exchange meeting, and then prepared the solutions according to the technical specifications and bidding documents of BII.

During this period, the solution has been constantly optimised according to the feedback of BII. In the later stage, after completing the sample processing and strict testing, HARTING then completed final procurement, rapid delivery and onsite installation.

In order to ensure the reliability and stability of the connection scheme, “we have carried out a lot of crimping profile analyses, simulated the train operation environment by way of two robots, and conducted tens of thousands of simulation tests under various turning conditions of marshalling trains!”

With a look to the future, the HCS Regional Service Centre, HARTING China will combine more overseas experience with local R&D and production capacity to improve the customised service levels, so as to provide more regional customers with innovative and competitive solutions and enable more customers to experience the value-added journey provided by HARTING!