Customer success stories

Beijing Subway

Creating a “super subway” that moves as fast as the city of Beijing

Beijing is one of the fastest growing cities on earth. But, with an ever-increasing demand for more rails and faster trains, the City of Beijing needed to expand its technology to keep up with nearly 2.5 billion commuters.

Great expectations for one of the world’s greatest cities

Expanding Beijing’s subway system would reduce traffic congestion, commuting times, fuel consumption and even air pollution. The only problem was, future-proofing their new railways and trains required practically unheard of technological advances.

The project vision included a newly designed subway that would boast the fastest (average speed of 100 km/h), longest (41.2 km from the east to west of the city) and highest capacity (64 trains transporting 2,000 passengers every three minutes) train system.

When safety and reliability concerns threatened to delay the Beijing project, Eaton stepped in with a comprehensive, coordinated, end-to-end solution. We fulfilled Beijing’s criteria like no other supplier could, providing robust electrical distribution equipment, turnkey engineering services and the expertise of a global company with a proven success record.

Video: Solving key electrical power management challenges.

Optimized products for a globalized world

Technical experts, service engineers and sales teams worked together to demonstrate Eaton’s globally available, high-quality product portfolio and extensive engineering capabilities. From holding seminars to developing product showcases, our strength in power management proved effective in the challenging market. We even partnered with city officials to ensure the optimal solution for everyone, from the operations manager to the passenger.

As the project came together, 500 Eaton medium voltage ET1 assemblies helped distribute and supply power for the entire 41.2 km line. The ET1s deliver high operational safety and reliability, plus flexible, maintenance-free operation. What’s more, all of the equipment—from components and assemblies to control and monitoring systems—work together seamlessly, safely and reliably.

Comprehensive results build confidence moving forward

Between this successful implementation and the impending expansion of the Chinese subway system, it is anticipated that Eaton will play a key role in future projects across Asia. With our future-savvy solutions in place, Beijing has complete confidence in its new super subway.