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China News Service, Kunming, August 18th, titled: "Railway Craftsman" Wang Chao: Guarding the mobile China on the railway with craftsmanship

Author: Zhang Weiming, Li Ling, Tang Chuanling

This summer, a large number of domestic and foreign tourists took the China-Laos Railway to travel across the border, with more than 4,000 passengers per day at peak times. A series of CR200J power-concentrated EMUs sped through the mountains of China and Laos, injecting endless vitality into the areas along the route.

The trains running on the railways form a "mobile China". Behind the normal operation of the railway network, there are railway craftsmen who silently dedicate themselves. Wang Chao, a vehicle electrician in the maintenance workshop of Kunming Depot of China Railway Kunming Bureau Group Co., Ltd., is one of them.

Over the past five years, Wang Chao has led his team to successfully repair 3,910 high-value accessories such as EMU integrated boards, summarized and refined more than 30 methods for troubleshooting difficult problems, obtained one national invention patent, 12 national utility model patents, and won the "National May 1st Labor Medal".

In the "Wang Chao Skill Master Studio" of Kunming Depot, on the outskirts of Kunming, Yunnan, Wang Chao is sitting in front of a CR200J power-concentrated EMU undercarriage power main control board that is on the verge of being abandoned, manually soldering a DSP chip. The DSP chip is the core of the main control board. The chip, which is smaller than a fingernail, is densely covered with more than 200 solder pins. Wang Chao "embroiders" each solder pin accurately on the integrated circuit board, giving it a new life.

Looking back, Wang Chao's road to becoming a skilled worker was not an easy one. In 2002, he became a railway maintenance apprentice. At first, he followed his master to clean car lights and handle daily faults. Before 2012, Wang Chao worked in the vehicle electrical group of the maintenance workshop, responsible for repairing the electrical equipment of railway passenger cars. At the end of the year, he was transferred to the technical research group and began to learn the maintenance of power supply host modules.

At that time, the relatively simple 8-pin chip welding technology was still a "bottleneck" problem in maintenance. Without any experience to draw on, Wang Chao figured it out on his own and kept trying, and finally found the best solution for welding with different welding heads, materials, and temperatures. Then, after more than 120 days of trial and error and more than 600 failures, Wang Chao mastered the welding technology from 8-pin to 200-pin chips, solving the technical problem of board maintenance. At the end of 2015, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security named the "Wang Chao Skill Master Studio" after Wang Chao in the Kunming Depot.

In 2021, Wang Chao started the maintenance work of the China-Laos Railway EMU. After the train was officially put into operation, a series of challenges followed. When the heater control panel of the CR200J centralized power EMU failed, resulting in uneven temperature in the carriages and affecting the comfort of passengers, Wang Chao and his team found minor flaws in the design and promoted product optimization and upgrading. "Although passengers don't know the repairmen, we repairmen have to think about the passengers." Wang Chao said that he communicated with thousands of passengers through running trains, and the fact that more and more passengers choose to travel by train is the greatest compliment to him.

In November 2023, the Laotian "Lancang" EMU embarked on a maintenance journey in China for the first time. Wang Chao and his studio members efficiently completed the maintenance of key components such as the PIS car controller and the off-board power integrated board. At the same time, Wang Chao presided over the completion of 3 scientific research projects and 29 technical research projects, and independently developed more than 20 achievements such as "board multi-channel signal multi-channel output and feedback device" and "railway passenger car 39-core communication socket line device". He also participated in the preparation of 7 electrical maintenance operation instructions for the CR200J power-concentrated EMU on the China-Laos Railway, pushing Chinese technical standards to the international stage.

Since the opening of the China-Laos Railway, Wang Chao and his team have helped the Laotian Railway Department solve more than 20 difficult and complicated problems in the operation of EMUs, such as the main engine card of the driving safety monitoring system and the maintenance of the power supply card under the vehicle. In June 2024, four Laotian EMU mechanics came to Kunming, Yunnan, and discussed the relevant skills of EMU maintenance with Wang Chao and other Chinese technicians face to face, promoting the technical exchanges and cooperation of the China-Laos Railway to a further level.

Wang Chao's story is a microcosm of the builders and guardians of the China-Laos Railway. He said, "In the days to come, my team and I will continue to challenge ourselves and lead the industry, and contribute more to the prosperity and development of the China-Laos Railway." (End)