The story
1899–1952
The locomotive factory in Dalian was founded in 1899, contemporary with the construction of the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway during the lease of the Liaodong Peninsula from China to the Russian Empire, and to the development of Dalian as a port and town.
In 1905, the "Shahekou Plant" came under Japanese control as a result of the Treaty of Portsmouth, and in 1906 the railway from Dalian to Changchun became part of the Japanese controlled South Manchurian Railway.
In 1934 the factory together with Kawasaki Heavy Industries, manufactured the Asia Express high speed steam train for the South Manchuria Railway.
In 1945 at the end of the Second World War the city came under Soviet Russian control. The Changchun Railway was jointly operated by China and Russia until 1952, when control was passed entirely to the Chinese government. The Soviet administration of Dalian ended in 1950, however the USSR continued to station troops there until 1955.
1952–2000
In 1956 the company manufactured the China Railways HP prototype 2-10-2 steam locomotive, and in 1957, the first China Railways JS class 2-8-2 locomotive, of which 1916 were built at different plants. as well as other steam locomotives.
Diesel locomotives were developed and produced at the plant, a prototype diesel electric type "JuLong" (Chinese: 巨龙; pinyin: Jù Lóng; lit. 'grand dragon') was produced in 1958 based on the Russian ТЭ10 locomotive and Fairbanks-Morse FM38D opposed piston engine, which led to the DF class diesel electric locomotives entered production in 1964.
The change from steam to diesel production began in 1965, and in 1969, the first of the China Railways DF4 class of locomotives was produced. The DF4 series of locomotive type became the main mainline diesel locomotive type in China, and developments were produced in the following decades; including the DF4B in 1984, the DF4D in 1996.
In the 1980s the company began a decade long research partnership with Ricardo plc into increasing the power output and efficiency of its DL240 diesel engine products. In 1997 it began working with Southwest Research Institute (USA) on the design of a new locomotive diesel engine.
Read the full text
The company first exported a mainline diesel locomotive in 1993 (to Myanmar), by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century the company had exported over 200 diesel locomotives.
By 2000 the company was producing half of China's internal supply of diesel locomotives, and manufactured 80% of the countries diesel locomotive exports.
2000–present
Dalian locomotive works' parent company, state-owned China National Railway Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Corporation (LORIC), was split into the northern and southern groups in 2002; the locomotive works part of China Northern Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation along with other rail vehicle manufacturers in China. The locomotive works was also incorporated as a limited company in 2003, known as CNR Group Dalian Locomotive & Rolling Stock (Chinese: 中国北车集团大连机车车辆有限公司) or just CNR Dalian.
In the first decade of the 21st century the plant began producing two new mainline locomotive product types; the China Railways HXD3 electric locomotives in association with Toshiba, a joint venture with Toshiba (Chinese: 大连东芝机车电气设备有限公司; lit. 'Dalian Toshiba Locomotive Electric Equipment Co.', 'Ltd.') was formed in 2002 to manufacture electric equipment for rolling stock. Also in the 2000s the diesel electric locomotives China Railways HXN3 were produced at Dalian in association with GM EMD.
As part of the initial public offering, the stake of CRN Dalian was transferred to an intermediate holding company China CNR in 2008.
In 2009 the company obtained its first export order to supply locomotives to a western country, an order for 20 New Zealand DL class locomotives.
In 2009 the groundbreaking ceremony took place for a new plant in the Lüshun economic development zone (Lushunkou District); the new facility was developed in conjunction with the municipal council of Dalian city. The facility, on a 2 km (1.2 mi) site, is designed to have a production of around 1000 locomotives, 1000 rail vehicles and 1000 diesel engines per year. The plant officially opened in August 2011, the first vehicles on the production line were metro passenger units for Line 2, Tianjin Metro.
In 2015, they delivered the prototype of the 8MLB light rail vehicle to Manila as part of the MRT Line 3 capacity expansion project. Being the first light rail vehicles made by the company, these faced several controversies, including weight and compatibility issues, as well as contractual restrictions involving the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Sumitomo Corporation-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-TES Philippines (TESP) consortium overseeing the line's rehabilitation. After 10 years of storage, and following technical audits by TÜV Rheinland and final safety checks by Sumitomo, the 8MLB LRVs officially entered regular revenue service on July 16, 2025.
One of the company's latest export orders came in January 2015 from the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority for 15 metro trains for the Lagos Rail Mass Transit system in Nigeria, with an option for 14 more. This order came about following a failed acquisition of old H-series carriages retired from the Toronto Subway. In the same year an order was placed for 14 eight car trains for Blue Line of the Kolkata Metro.
From Wikipedia’s article on CRRC Dalian, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3