Chongqing- Chongqing Rail Transit (CRT) Loop Line in Southwest China has received the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Project Awards during FIDIC's Global Infrastructure Conference that was held in Geneva recently.

FIDIC is an authoritative international non-governmental organization in the global engineering consulting industry known as the "Nobel Prize" of the international engineering consulting community. It aims to commend engineering projects that have played a prominent role in world economic and social development on a global scale with quality, integrity, and sustainable development.

From a shortlist of 28 projects, the judging panel of former FIDIC presidents awarded six highly commended prizes. Chongqing's CRT Loop Line, representing China, stood out and won the Outstanding Project of the Year (Large).

The line is a national rail transit Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) demonstration project, which started construction on October 28, 2013, and officially opened on January 20, 2021. The line spans 50.88 kilometers long and has 33 stations, including 28 underground stations, two semi-ground stations, and three elevated stations.

CBTC is a railway signaling system that uses the telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. The exact position of a train is known more accurately than with the traditional signaling systems, which results in a more efficient and safe way to manage railway traffic.

The judges stressed that this year's awards demonstrated the shift and importance of the infrastructure sector in the delivery of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) and net zero, with all the shortlisted projects covering not one but all of the 17 SDGs goals across a significant range of project values.

Allowing citizens in Chongqing easily travel across rivers, the line crosses the Yangtze River twice and the Jialing River once and also contains conventional tunnels, bored tunnels, and large-span river-crossing bridges.

In addition, it connects three high-speed railway stations, four comprehensive bus hubs, and five administrative districts, including Shapingba, Jiangbei, Yubei, Nan'an, and Jiulongpo Districts, with its interconnection with three rail transit lines.

"CRT Loop Line is the world's first circular rail transit line to use overpass lines, and it has set a world record for the operational efficiency of a single loop line and broke multiple world records in bridge construction," introduced by Chongqing Rail Transit Design and Research Institute.

The technology of CRT Loop Line has been established with independent intellectual property rights of China, which makes a key milestone for the urban rail industry, with cities across China and the globe looking forward to taking experience from it.

(Zhu Qinzhuo, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)