About Us

After the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Ministry of Railways began to adjust the layout of locomotive and rolling stock industry according to the factors such as railway mileage, road network density and hub setting. While merging, adjusting and transforming the original rolling stock factories, a number of new factories have been built in various places and other places. At the same time, in order to cooperate with the construction and deployment of China's machinery industry during the first five-year plan period (1953-1957), a number of large-scale modern backbone enterprises were built with the emphasis on developing heavy industry manufacturing of metallurgical equipment, power generation equipment, transportation machinery and metal cutting machine tools. According to this arrangement, the China Municipal Government has built more than 70 major projects with an investment of more than 10 million yuan. Among them, in order to fill the gap of specialized railway locomotive factories, Datong Locomotive Factory was set up as one of the 156 key projects during the First Five-Year Plan period, and other locomotive and rolling stock factories were built at the same time, including Changchun Bus Factory, Changchun Locomotive Factory and Zhuzhou Rolling Stock Factory.

In 1954, with the approval of the Central People's Government, the First Ministry of Machinery Industry established the "Preparatory Office of Datong Locomotive Factory". After investigation and demonstration, it was decided on September 3, 1954 to build a large steam locomotive manufacturing factory in Datong, Shanxi. On October 10, 1955, the Locomotive and Rolling Stock Administration of the First Ministry of Machinery Industry renamed the preparatory office of Datong Locomotive Factory as "428 Factory". Subsequently, on March 27, 1957, it was approved to cancel the code name of "428 Factory" and officially changed its name to Datong Locomotive Works. Although the name "428 Factory" has only been used for less than two years, it is still very common for Datong people to refer to Datong Locomotive Works with "428". Datong Locomotive Senior Technical School, which was established with Datong Locomotive Works, is still commonly called "428 Technical School".

Historically, Datong Locomotive Works successively belonged to the Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Administration of the First Ministry of Machinery Industry, the General Administration of Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry of the Ministry of Railways and China Railway Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corporation. In 2000, with the separation of state-owned enterprises and the restructuring of auxiliary industries, China Railway Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Corporation was reorganized into China North Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Group Corporation and China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Group Corporation, and Datong Electric Locomotive Factory, as an important part, was classified as China CNR Group, named China CNR Datong Locomotive & Rolling Stock Factory. In 2003, CNR reorganized Datong Locomotive Works and established Datong Electric Locomotive Co., Ltd..

Tongche Company is the only manufacturer in China that has produced all three series of locomotive products: steam, internal combustion and electric power. As the largest steam locomotive research and development base in Asia, it has produced 5571 steam locomotives of various types and undertaken more than 75% of the passenger and freight traction tasks of the national railways. Since the "Seventh Five-Year Plan", in order to adapt to the railway development situation, the company has adjusted its product structure in time, and has successively switched to diesel and electric locomotives, creating a production situation in which both internal electricity and electricity are used simultaneously. In 1999, after the cumulative production of 659 Dongfeng diesel locomotives, the company turned to the research and development and production of electric locomotives. By the end of 2007, 2659 electric locomotives of various types had been produced.

In order to meet the needs of the railway's leap-forward development strategy, the same car company has stepped up the pace of technology introduction and independent innovation, and strengthened communication and cooperation with well-known enterprises in the international locomotive and rolling stock industry. In 2003, the company was listed as one of the six key supporting enterprises in the railway equipment industry by the Ministry of Railways. In 2005, the same car company cooperated with Alstom of France and successfully won the contract order for 180 Harmony Type 2 high-power AC drive electric locomotives, with a total contract value of 7.5 billion yuan. This type of locomotive has a single power of 10,000 kw, which is the largest single-machine heavy-duty locomotive in the world. On this basis, in 2007, the company signed a contract order for 500 harmonious 2B six-axle high-power AC drive electric locomotives, with a total contract value of 11.2 billion yuan. The above projects have played a great role in promoting the modernization of railway equipment in China, and also given enterprises a great historical opportunity to realize technological innovation and advance to the world-class rail transit equipment enterprises.