LYC Bearing Powers Urban Rail Transit Systems

Recently, the China Standard Metro Bearing Technology Exchange and LYC Product Application Achievement Summary Meeting was held in Luoyang, Henan. The meeting discussed the technical research and development progress of urban rail vehicle bearings, localization substitution practices and future promotion directions. Technical representatives from multiple rail transit equipment manufacturing bases such as CRRC Changchun, Zhuzhou and Tangshan participated in the exchange.

Break through the core technology bottleneck and promote independent control

As an important basic component of industrial equipment, bearings play an irreplaceable role in urban rail transit systems. At present, most domestic subway vehicles still rely on imported bearings, which have problems such as high procurement costs, long supply cycles, and delayed technical support, which restrict the development of the local industrial chain.

LYC is one of the earliest companies in China to manufacture railway passenger car bearings and has a complete CRCC certification system. In recent years, the company has taken the localization of core components as its goal, starting from the maintenance business and gradually entering the new manufacturing field. By participating in the "Serialized China Standard Metro Train Development and Test Project" organized by the National Development and Reform Commission, it has successfully developed axle box bearings suitable for subway vehicles and put them into actual use in engineering vehicles in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Xi'an, Chengdu and other places.

In 2022, Luoyang Bearing and Luoyang Metro cooperated to launch a localized bearing installation verification project. After multiple rounds of testing and evaluation, bench tests and 100,000 kilometers of operation assessment were completed, and it successfully entered the formal operation stage.

Actual operation performance is excellent, reaching the import level

According to on-site feedback, the No. 0217 train of Luoyang Metro Line 2 equipped with Luoyang Bearing has completed 250,000 kilometers of safe operation with stable performance. The test process is divided into three stages: no-load operation, peak-hour trial operation and conventional line assessment. The final disassembly inspection results show that the bearing is in good condition, and the operating data is basically consistent with imported similar products. It has passed the expert review composed of industry associations, subway companies and OEMs.

This achievement marks that my country has made substantial progress in the localization of key components of subways, and also lays a solid foundation for subsequent large-scale promotion and application.

Industry-university-research collaboration promotes high-quality development of the industry

Before the seminar, the participating experts visited LYC's R&D center, new energy vehicle bearing production line and smart factory, and highly praised its efforts in technological innovation and industrial upgrading. At the same time, many industry experts have put forward suggestions on how to accelerate the application of domestic bearings in the field of rail transit.

Some experts pointed out that it is necessary to start from user needs, strengthen full life cycle service support, and improve product reliability and maintenance convenience. There are also opinions that the formulation of relevant industry standards should be accelerated to promote the standardization and normalization of key technologies to provide a unified basis for industrial development.

In addition, relying on LYC as the core, Luoyang has initially formed an industrial cluster covering more than 300 upstream and downstream enterprises, with an annual output value of more than 28 billion yuan. In the future, it is expected to further integrate resources, improve the innovation chain, and create a bearing industry base with regional characteristics and national influence.

Conclusion

With the continuous advancement of urban rail transit construction, the demand for key core components is also increasing. The breakthrough of LYC in the field of subway axle box bearings has not only improved the domestic substitution capacity, but also provided a useful example for independent innovation in the manufacturing industry. In the next step, how to expand the scope of application, optimize the service system, and improve the standard system will be an important direction to promote "Luoyang Manufacturing" to a broader market.