On July 11, the fault of “no current and no voltage” in the traction motor of locomotive DF46358 at Shandong Liangshan Port was successfully resolved. Rather than simply replacing components, maintenance personnel from Wuhan Jinhuasheng Railway Locomotive Co., Ltd. conducted a systematic inspection of the entire vehicle’s electrical wiring, eliminating the root cause of the issue. This overhaul not only demonstrates the enhanced professional expertise of the maintenance team but also reflects the company’s broader transformation—from a single‑purpose traction‑focused operation to an integrated “locomotive‑machinery‑workshop‑electrical‑vehicle” maintenance and operations model.

Previously, the Equipment Maintenance Department suffered from insufficient overall capabilities, a severe shortage of specialized technical personnel, lax internal management, and weak awareness of preventive maintenance. Maintenance activities were largely reactive emergency repairs, leading to recurring failures and leaving maintenance staff constantly overburdened. At the frontline operational level, there was a pronounced emphasis on utilization at the expense of proper upkeep, resulting in a significant number of failures attributable to human error.

The turning point came with talent recruitment. Taking the development of its workforce as a strategic priority, the company gradually brought on board a cadre of highly skilled technical experts proficient in locomotive structures, electrical systems, and control technologies. In response, the company overhauled its maintenance procedures, established mechanisms for fault root-cause analysis and post‑incident reviews, and adopted the operational standard of “a single fault triggers a full‑vehicle inspection,” expanding maintenance from isolated, point‑by‑point fixes to comprehensive, vehicle‑wide hazard identification. At the same time, maintenance personnel were dispatched to the front lines to conduct hands‑on training in preventive maintenance, helping operators address gaps in their specialized knowledge.

The troubleshooting and verification of locomotive DF46358 at Liangshan Port have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach. Rather than focusing on a single component, the maintenance team conducted a systematic analysis of the fault’s root causes, propagation pathways, and secondary risks, concluding that the issue stemmed from long‑term, cumulative defects in the vehicle’s electrical wiring. They promptly developed a comprehensive remediation plan.

The upgrading of maintenance capabilities is a key component of Wuhan Jinhuasheng’s comprehensive transformation. Today, the company has evolved from its early days as a provider of single‑purpose locomotive traction services into an integrated operations and maintenance service provider, offering railway transport organization, equipment maintenance and repair, power supply support, train dispatching, and specialized skills training. The company has obtained ISO three‑system certification, been recognized as a national high‑tech enterprise, and been authorized by the Wuhan Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau as a vocational skills grading assessment body. To date, it has completed track‑laying projects on 45 conventional and high‑speed rail lines, with a total track‑laying mileage exceeding 10,000 kilometers, and provides operations and maintenance support for 28 local railway dedicated lines across 16 provinces nationwide.

The company is simultaneously advancing its strategic initiatives in three key areas: green and low‑carbon development, digital intelligence, and overseas markets. In the realm of green transformation, leveraging its proprietary maintenance expertise, Liangshan Port has commissioned its first high‑power, new‑energy‑converted locomotive, achieving zero carbon emissions during operations; calculations indicate this will reduce annual CO₂ emissions by 944 tonnes. Currently, the company operates four new‑energy locomotives, with an additional three under construction or undergoing retrofitting, and plans to complete the conversion of all its in‑house diesel locomotives to new energy by 2035. On the digital front, drawing on a fault‑management ledger as its data foundation, the company has launched the first phase of an AI‑powered integrated production management system, standardizing equipment data entry and enabling seamless data exchange with the Yunlu Logistics app, thereby reducing the circulation of paper documents. In terms of international business, as one of the earliest private railway enterprises to engage with the Belt and Road Initiative, the company has undertaken the operation and maintenance of Guinea’s Da San Railway, the track‑laying project for Indonesia’s Jakarta–Bandung High-Speed Railway, and the rehabilitation and ongoing maintenance of Liberia’s Bang Mine Railway.

From passive emergency repairs to systematic, professional operations and maintenance; from single‑unit locomotive traction to comprehensive O&M covering rolling stock, signaling, power supply, and vehicle equipment—this enhancement in maintenance capabilities has addressed a critical bottleneck in the company’s transformation and upgrading, while also laying a solid technological foundation for green transformation, digital empowerment, and overseas expansion.