Chinese state-owned rolling stock manufacturer CRRC has unveiled a new freight locomotive platform offering three distinct powertrain options on a common chassis, a design approach aimed squarely at mining railways across Central Asia where aging diesel fleets and unreliable grid infrastructure have stalled earlier decarbonisation efforts.
The platform, branded XUANKUN domestically and marketed internationally as VELFORCE, was launched at the 9th China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi. It comes in three configurations — pure battery, hydrogen fuel cell, and diesel-battery hybrid — all built on the same body, bogies, and cab. The power range spans 1,000 kW to 2,000 kW across variants, covering heavy haulage applications on mine spurs, port shunters, and ore lines.
The practical significance of sharing a common chassis is that a fleet operator can deploy different powertrain variants along a single corridor without splitting maintenance programmes, reordering spare parts inventories, or retraining crews for separate locomotive families. An operator in Kazakhstan, for instance, could run a hydrogen variant on a longer export haul while using battery-powered units for shorter yard work, with the same depot tooling and technical procedures applying across both.
CRRC says its hybrid variant cuts nitrogen oxide emissions by 45 percent, hydrocarbons by 73 percent, and carbon monoxide by 83 percent compared to conventional locomotives, while reducing carbon dioxide output by approximately 374 tonnes per unit annually. The battery and hydrogen variants produce zero tailpipe emissions, though well-to-wheel figures will depend heavily on the energy mix used to generate electricity and produce hydrogen in each market — a significant consideration given that much of Central Asia’s power generation remains fossil fuel-based.
The launch in Urumqi was not incidental. The China-Eurasia Expo serves effectively as a Belt and Road trade platform, and the assembled audience of Central Asian rail and mining sector representatives represents CRRC’s primary target market for the VELFORCE series. Alongside the new locomotive platform, CRRC showcased a benchmark export locomotive for Uzbekistan, heavy-haul coal hopper cars, and double-deck container flatcars, underscoring the breadth of its push into the Eurasian freight corridor.
Tian Jun, chief engineer of China’s National Railway Administration, endorsed the platform at the unveiling, citing its adaptability to varied operating scenarios and its alignment with green rail development across Eurasian corridors. CRRC General Manager Wang Feng described the Xuankun launch as the starting point for a systematic, branded, and internationally-oriented new-energy locomotive programme.
CRRC has been building toward this product for several years. In June 2023 the company converted its first diesel locomotive to hydrogen propulsion, and in March 2024 a high-power hydrogen shunter hauled a 10,000-tonne load over the Xinshuo Railway in what the company described as a milestone test. VELFORCE draws on those demonstrators but repackages the technology as a serialised commercial product line with a defined sales pipeline.
Key commercial questions remain unanswered, including unit pricing for each variant, the practicalities of hydrogen fuel logistics in markets without established distribution networks, and the long-term performance of battery chemistry under the dust and temperature extremes typical of mining operations in Kazakhstan and neighbouring states. What the platform does offer, however, is a route to fleet modernisation that does not require operators to commit an entire corridor to a single infrastructure build before the first locomotive turns a wheel. /// nCa, 30 June 2026 (photo credit – dknews.kz)