Chinese train manufacturer Nanche Sifang Locomotive and six
Japanese multinationals have won the bid for China’s new bullet
train.
The Chinese Railway Ministry’s 99.3 billion yuan (US$12 billion)
project aims to double the speed of trains on five major existing
railway lines to 200 kilometers per hour.
The five train lines, stretching over 2,000 kilometers, include
one linking Beijing and Shenyang, in northeast China’s Liaoning
Province, and another to connect the port city of Qingdao with
Jinan in Shandong
Province.
The six Japanese companies -- Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Itochu, Mitsubishi and Marubeni --
are expected to offer a modified version of the Hayate Shinkansen
bullet train, which can run at a top speed of 275 kilometers per
hour. The deal marks the first major transfer of Japan’s bullet
train technology to China.
The tender has been closely watched because it may have an
impact on the hotly contested 1,300-kilometer railway project
linking Beijing and Shanghai. Companies in Japan, France and
Germany are all bidding for that contract.
(CRI, China.org.cn August 30, 2004)