Want... China's railway industry is in talks with around 30 countries on infrastructure projects, reports Hong Kong's Ta Kung Po.
Before President Xi Jinping began his recent visit to the US, a consortium led by China Railway Corp (CR), China's national railway operator, signed a deal with American Western Express for a joint venture which plans to invest US$12.7 billion to build a high-speed railway in the US.
During his recent visit to China by George Osborne, the British chancellor of the exchequer, also welcomed Chinese investors to bid for the High Speed 2 project that will connect London, Birmingham and York. The contract for the project will worth £11.8 billion (US$17.8 billion), according to the Guardian.
The Indonesian government, which abandoned a plan for a high-speed railway connecting Jakarta with Bandung last month in favor of a medium-speed railway, is understood to be considering China's offer and studying whether it is possible for local businesses to take part. China had been favorably poised to secure the high-speed rail contract before it was axed.
In mid-September, Thai and Chinese officials met in Bangkok to discuss a potential joint venture, financing and government cooperation framework. A railway connecting Bangkok with Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province could break ground before the end of the year.
On June 18, a consortium consisting of China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group and Russian businesses signed a contract with the state-owned Russian Railways to build a railway between Moscow and Kazan. The project is scheduled for completion in 2018.
The railway projects for which Beijing has been in negotiations with other countries total 5,000 km in length with total investments of nearly 1 trillion yuan (US$157 billion). Investment in high-speed rail projects is likely to keep increasing, potentially reaching 3 trillion yuan (US$470 billion) in the future, while investment in related equipment like rolling stock is likely to reach 450 billion yuan (US$70 billion).
Cost is clearly the main advantage for Chines contractors over their competitors, according to Sealand Securities. A China-made high-speed railway with a maximum speed of 350 km per hour costs around US$17 million to US$21 million per km, compared to the US$25 million to US$39 million for European companies.
China has also by now developed its own railway technology. Over 90% of the parts of the multiple unit train CRH380A are developed by China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Limited (CSR) and made in China. The train is built with technology completely owned by China and it is the first bullet train that the country has exported, according to the Beijing-based Caixin Online. Chinese engineers have also succeeded in building railways in a range of different and often inhospitable terrains from deserts, mountainous regions, the Tibet-Qinghai plateau, as well as areas affected by extreme cold and coastal regions.
Beijing's ambitious "Belt and Road" initiative and the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will also provide some of the financing needed for the projects.
Poster Comment:
Anyone of America's major defense contractors could be doing this and much better than anyone else were it not for US Congress funding crazy wars for Israel whose world-wide Jewry helps to elect national (Israel-supporting)politicians.