Co-operating towards railway innovations

SHANGHAI – HARTING (Zhuhai) Sales Limited and the Institute of Railway and Urban Rail Transit of Tongji University (IRT) signed a memorandum of understanding to develop innovative technologies in the field of rail transportation and to train a new generation of engineers. Philip F. W. Harting, senior vice president of HARTING Group, and Han Bin, president of IRT, hosted the signing ceremony in Shanghai.

HARTING and IRT will set up a joint laboratory to strengthen the rail vehicle connector technology research and teaching practice.

Han Bin, president of IRT, Tongji University, and Philip F. W. Harting, SVP of HARTING group, at the MOU signing in Shanghai earlier this month

China is a most important market for HARTING, and the company is highly committed to promote railway technology innovations to the Chinese community as well as to cultivate railway transportation talents.  “IRT has excellent performance and experience in railway and urban rail transit technology education and research. They have been training a large number of highly qualified technical engineers,” Mr Harting said.

Through the co-operation, HARTING stands to from learning and developing new solutions for signal communication, operation management and engineering construction, which will reinforce its leading position in the field of rail transportation.

Mr Han pointed out China’s high-speed rail transportation will develop tremendously fast in the future. By 2020, high-speed rail will extend to a total mileage of 20,000 kilometers. Such development will create demand for massive requirement for outstanding professional engineers and advanced technology to support.

Meanwhile HARTING will provide scholarships and internship opportunities for IRT’s students every year. Outstanding doctoral students and young scholars will have the opportunity to join project communication in Germany.

"We hope that through cooperation with HARTING, we will provide students a combined platform and resource for theory and practice. That allows young talents to be trained and well geared up before they can contribute to society and enterprise development. In the end this leads to win-win results," Mr. Han said.

Founded in 1945, Harting is the market leader in connectivity and networks technology. The company is also the first global connector manufacturer in the China market awarded the China Compulsory Certification (CCC).