In 2004 MoR, the Chinese Ministry of Railway which has now become China Railways Corp., commissioned 60 Pendolino trains. Alstom initially supplied 3 complete trains and 6 disassembled specimens: assembling in China was carried out by CNR CRC Changchun which also took care of locally manufacturing, with Alstom’s support, the remaining 51 units, all fitted with our rubber flooring.
In China, the model is known as the CRH 5A (China Railways High Speed 5A) and is not equipped with the “tilting” system, since it utilises the new high speed lines in Northern and Eastern CHINA. Between the units in operation and those under construction, the fleet numbers 130 8-carriage trains. In keeping with the Italian model, maximum speed has been set at 250 km/h. A variant is planned that will represent the backbone of intermediate Chinese lines.