China Debuts First Embodied AI Digital Subway Train VELLINK
CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles has unveiled VELLINK, China's first embodied AI digital subway train featuring cloud-edge-device architecture and energy-saving designs.
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Illustrative image; not a photograph of this reported event. Photo by Brent Singleton on Pexels
The Brief
People's Daily reported that CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd., together with Chengdu Rail Transit Group Co., Ltd. and other entities, officially unveiled VELLINK, an integrated green and smart digital subway train.
VELLINK represents China's first embodied artificial intelligence digital subway train, developed on the Chinese standard subway technical platform using cloud-edge-device cooperative architecture, autonomous driving, digital twins, and full life-cycle carbon management.
Train design manager Yin Hang stated that VELLINK incorporates embodied artificial intelligence globally for the first time, leveraging sensing networks, proprietary algorithms, and high-speed communications to enable proactive operational optimization.
To resolve equipment redundancy and energy consumption challenges, VELLINK fuses smart operation, passenger service, and monitoring systems, reducing control hosts by 50% and vehicle wiring by 30%.
Why it matters
The adoption of lightweight materials, internal axle-box bogies, and integrated roofs reduced train weight by about 18%. Combined with permanent magnet traction systems and silicon carbide converters, comprehensive energy efficiency rose by over 10%, cutting life-cycle carbon emissions by about 15%.
Key Takeaways
- 1CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles led the development of VELLINK, China's first embodied artificial intelligence digital subway train.
- 2The train utilizes high-speed communications, sensing networks, and proprietary algorithms to transition from passive command execution to proactive operational optimization.
- 3Functional integration cut control hosts by 50% and wiring by 30%, while voltage conversion redesign boosted power supply efficiency by about 9%.
Sources
- 我国首列具身智能数字地铁列车亮相 — People's Daily · 10/12/2026