Summit Forum on Urban Rail Transit and Digital Transformation Held in Beijing

On April 11, the First Session of the Third Committee of the Design Consulting Special Committee of China Association of Metros and the Summit Forum on Urban Rail Transit and Digital Transformation was held in Beijing, which was sponsored by the Design Advisory Special Committee of Association of Metros and hosted by UCD.

The forum, themed “Empowering Intelligent Transportation Through Digital Urban Rail”, focused on advanced concepts and technological innovation in the digital transformation of urban rail transit in China. Peng Suping, Zhu Hehua and Du Xiuli, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, were invited to attend the forum and delivered key speeches. 8 front-line experts gave keynote speeches. Moreover, 180 professionals specialized in urban rail transit from all over the country conducted in-depth discussions and shared ideas and fruits on the digital application and transformation of urban rail transit.

In recent years, the digital transformation of urban rail transit is a crucial issue for China’s urban rail design consulting industry. The urban rail transit has become a significant component of China’s urban transportation. Since April 2023, the daily passenger volume of rail transit around the country continues to increase. On April 7, the rail transit in Beijing and Shanghai both carried more than 10 million passengers.

At the beginning of this year, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued the Overall Layout Plan for China’s Digital Development, which specifies the overall framework and layout for China’s digital construction. According to the plan, it is imperative to consolidate the foundation of digital China construction and strengthen digital infrastructure; to comprehensively promote economic and social development and accelerate the innovative application of digital technologies in transportation and other key areas; and to reinforce the key capabilities of digital China, achieve greater self-reliance and strength in digital technology innovation system, and ensure credible and controllable digital security. As the first step of urban rail transit construction, design consulting are duty-bound to lead the entire industry to rise to the digital challenge with sufficient preparation.

Since the 21st century, China’s urban rail transit has developed rapidly. The country has seen over 10,000-kilometer urban rail transit open to traffic, ranking first in the world. The whole industry is stepping into an important period of digital transformation. The further promotion of a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, especially the widespread integration and deep penetration of digital technology and the construction industry, has also provided new impetus for industry transformation and upgrading.

The forum caters to the common demand of the urban rail design consulting industry. The three academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering gave key speeches in terms of construction and operation security of urban subway, digital empowerment and governance of infrastructure, and digital transformation of engineering respectively, providing practitioners with ideas and directions for reference. Eight industry experts combined with project construction practice to discuss the practical experience and exploration of digital transformation of design-oriented urban rail transit construction based on various themes such as “digital application of urban rail transit design and management innovation”, “green smart rail transit development and digital technology application”, which were welcomed by the participants.

Meanwhile, the Third Special Committee of the Design Consulting Special Committee of the China Association of Metros was successfully elected at this meeting.