02/07/2020

In line with the instructions of the State Council, the National Railway Administration (NRA) should increase its commitment to translate and publish railway technical standards in foreign languages, to promote exchanges and cooperation between China and Africa on railway technology, and to continuously promote the internationalization of China’s railway standards, so as to provide strong support for China’s railway sector to “go global”. In this context, in June 2020 NRA released :

  • Arabic and Thai Version of Code for Design of High-speed Railway(TB 10621-2014);
  • A Dictionary for Chinese-Arabic Translation of Railway Technical Standards; and
  • A Dictionary for Chinese-Indonesian Translation of Railway Technical Standards.

 

Railway Standard

In December 2014, NRA developed and released the Code for Design of High-speed Railway: it is the first sector standard for high-speed railway design in China, as well as the leading standard for the high-speed railway standards system in the country. In July 2015, NRA released the English version of the Code, aimed at sharing with the world China’s experience in high-speed rail construction, and thus supporting the “going global” of China’s railway sector. In March 2019, The Russian and Indonesian versions of the standard were released, providing standard support for key overseas railway projects such as the Moscow-Kazan High-speed Railway in Russia, and the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway in Indonesia.

The release of the Arabic and Thai versions of the Code will provide strong support to relevant countries and regions to understand and adopt China’s high-speed railway technical standards.

Dictionary

In order to regulate the translation of professional vocabulary and technical terms of railway engineering construction standards, and to ensure the quality of the translation, in 2017 NRA released A Dictionary for English Translation of Railway Technical Standards. The Arabic and Indonesian dictionaries comprehensively illustrate the main problems commonly encountered during the application of China railway technical standards in overseas railway projects; they also sort out the commonly-used vocabulary of railway engineering construction standards, and provide a translation in both Chinese and Arabic/Indonesian, which contributes to increased practicability and convenience for users.

The above-mentioned foreign versions of the railway standard and dictionaries are officially published by China Railway Publishing House.

Background

NRA is committed to accelerate the internationalization of Chinese railway standards. China’s railway construction technology is among the world’s most advanced; the country has a complete railway construction standard system with Chinese characteristics, covering high-speed railway, intercity railway, passenger and freight railway, heavy-haul railways, municipal (suburban) railways, magnetic levitation railways, special railway lines, as well as railway survey, design, construction, inspection and acceptance, and other railway specialties. They all have global influence.

In order to promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the translation of standards has been carried out continuously since 2014. To date, basically all Chinese railway engineering construction standards have a corresponding English version, as well as versions in other languages for certain key standards. Specifically, 106 standards have been translated in English, and 4 in other languages; 3 bilingual dictionaries have also been translated and published.

The original Chinese version of the news is available on the official website of NRA: NRA Released Foreign Language Versions of Railway Standard and Dictionaries

Official website of China Railway Publishing House Online Platform: http://www.m.crphdm.com/

By Haley WU on July 2, 2020