GE, Chinas CSR to Invest $50 Million in High-Speed Rail Bid
By Rachel Layne - Dec 7, 2010 9:04 AM GMT+0800 Tweet inShare.More
Business ExchangeBuzz up!DiggPrint Email .General Electric Co. and CSR Corp., Chinas largest maker of rail vehicles, plan to invest $50 million in their U.S.-based venture for supplying passenger trains for high-speed lines in California and Florida.
The initiative may sustain or create 250 jobs by 2012, probably at GE Transportation factories in Erie and Grove City, Pennsylvania, the company said today. The partners also will form a business to work on medium-speed trains and on urban rail-transit systems, GE said in a statement.
We are committed to advancing the global high-speed rail technology market, said Vice Chairman John Rice, whose appointment last month to oversee a new international business structure from Hong Kong signaled Fairfield, Connecticut-based GEs focus on overseas markets and partnerships.
The rail venture supports Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelts goal of investing more than $1.5 billion in joint ventures in key high-technology sectors with China, adding $500 million to GEs research centers in the country and boosting U.S. manufacturing.
President Barack Obamas administration is championing high-speed passenger rail projects, with $2.3 billion in federal funding allocated in January to the California line and $1.3 billion for the Florida project.
GEs agreement on a so-called cooperative framework with CSR follows comments last week by Zhao Xiaogang, the Chinese companys chairman, in Hong Kong that the companies may also compete for a project on the U.S. East Coast, and will decide which of the lines to bid on over the next three years. GE and CSR signed a memorandum of understanding on rail projects in 2009.
Chinas passenger trains reach more than 220 miles (354 kilometers) an hour, while GE is the worlds biggest maker of diesel-electric locomotives. The venture aims to meet Buy America standards for U.S. content, GE said.
