China Exports of HSR, Trains, Metro, Tram, Rolling Stocks, etc: News

[AndrewJin]

567 million Boston
1.3 billion Chicago
137 million Philadelphia
647 million LA
Hope good news about the San F. bid coming soon
How about those deadly and damn old trains in NYC?
Got to completely replace them!

China's CRRC Corp wins LA metro contract worth up to $647 million

Monday, March 27, 2017 5:47 a.m. EDT
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese rail car manufacturer CRRC Corp will build 64 subway cars for the Los Angeles metro as part of an order that could be worth as much as $647 million.

A CRRC executive confirmed the news on Monday, which was first announced by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) late last week.

The LACMTA said these cars will be used for the metro's red and purple lines, and they may also opt to buy another 218 subway cars, bringing the total order value to about $647 million, it said.

The contract, which is the Chinese company's third major win in the United States, comes ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump next month in Florida, where openness to trade and investment between the two nations will be a central theme.

"The company had the highest-rated technical offer and lowest price while offering the most robust local employment program and highest U.S. component content," the LACMTA stated, adding that it has already met Washington's "Buy America" provisions, which require 60 percent of components to be made in the U.S.

CRRC plans to invest in a Los Angeles-based facility to manufacture major components, including propulsion and air-conditioning. It is expected to deliver the first car by 2020, and all 64 cars by September 2021, it added.

The metro cars' exterior shells will be manufactured in one of CRRC's factories in northeastern China, while the final assembling will be done in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the company is also manufacturing trains for Boston's subway system, the LACMTA added.

This win reflects how CRRC has been steadily gaining ground in the United States. The company had won a $567 million Boston contract in 2014, and another bid worth $1.3 billion last year to build rail cars for Chicago.

Tony Liu, assistant marketing director at CRRC's Qingdao Sifang unit, which won the Chicago project, told Reuters last week that the firm was focused on several other U.S. projects, including San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit project.

"The rolling stock market in the United States will come to another round of renewal for the existing fleet," Liu said. "We see great potential for the market in the United States in the coming decade."

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

 

[Shotgunner51]

How about those deadly and damn old trains in NYC?

Yep wish NYC modernize subway soon, that would be a huge exports order!

 

[AndrewJin]

Awesome news, CRRC Springfield factory will assemble trains for Boston, LA, now adding Philadelphia, and more in the future!
This is great not just for local american jobs, but will bring thousands of jobs to Chinese companies that build bogie, railway chips, pantograph, shock absorbers, etc.

From my perspective, the entire America's subway and suburban railways need to be completely rebuilt, both tracks and rolling stock. That is one of the most deadly railway systems in the world.

Springfield CRRC plant gets $137.5M Philly train car job

SPRINGFIELD -- The CRRC plant now under construction in East Springfield was awarded a deal Thursday to build 45 train cars for SEPTA, Philadelphia's transit system, for $137.5 million.

The deal includes an option for SEPTA to buy 10 more cars for another $23.5 million, according to a report on Philly.com, the online home of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.

The cars are expected to arrive in Philadelphia in 2019. They'll be double-deckers, adding about 6,000 seats to SEPTA's busiest commuter rail lines.

The Philadelphia deal, along with a Los Angeles order announced in December, is another sign that CRRC is accomplishing its goal of creating a rail car industry in Springfield by filling needs beyond the MBTA contracts that caused it to be built.

An arm of the Chinese state railways, CRRC built its factory here to fulfill a $566 million contract it received in 2014 from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to manufacture 284 cars for the Red and Orange lines on Greater Boston's subway system. Those cars are expected to start production next year.

Subsequently, the MBTA awarded CRRC a $277 million contract to build an additional 120 Red Line cars starting in 2022. This most recent MBTA deal includes an option to purchase 14 more cars.

The Los Angels deal is for $178.4 million to purchase 64 new subway cars for the Metro Red Line and Purple Line.

CRRC executives have said officials from Atlanta's MARTA transit system have already toured the Springfield factory.

CRRC is has also proposed a factory in Fort Edward, New York, near Saratoga Springs, that would make transit cars for New York City.

Massachusetts went without federal funding on its initial Red and Orange line orders so it could require that the cars be assembled somewhere in the commonwealth. That touched off competition among companies building plants and cities that wanted to host those plants. Springfield won.

The first group of CRRC workers leaves for China and training at CRRC's facilities there early in April.

All told, CRRC expects to have more than 150 production workers in Springfield. CRRC said production jobs will pay $55,000 to $60,000 a year.




Springfield factory, still under construction, on track to supply nation's rail cars

SPRINGFIELD -- With 204,000 square feet of space -- that's more than three and a half football fields -- the massive CRRC rail car manufacturing plant nearing completion on Page Boulevard in East Springfield is the largest industrial development the city has seen in generations.

And the Chinese executives planning the $95 million facility say they hope to someday build a second and similarly sized plant right next to it if demand for transit, light rail and intercity rail passenger cars in North America is as strong as they expect it to become.

Jia Bo, CRRC MA vice president, casually mentioned that fact through a translator while pointing to what is now an open field beside the huge manufacturing. Bo was leading a tour of city officials through a facility he and his colleagues call the "workshop."

It's not idle boasting. CRRC is working to bring as much work to Springfield as it can, despite its plans for factories in upstate New York and elsewhere.


CRRC, already the largest manufacturer of railroad rolling stock in the world, plans to boost overseas sales to $15 billion in U.S. dollars by 2020, according to state-run Chinese media. That would be an increase from just $8 billion in overseas orders this year.

Also, Chinese media reports that CRRC is working to take over the Czech Republic's Skoda Transportation, a major European player in the rail car industry.

With their fleets of subway, transit, light rail, trolley and intercity passenger rolling stock aging, the U.S. and Canada are seen as growth markets by CRRC and its Chinese management.

"And we are very hopeful that there will be even more demand with more infrastructure spending under President Donald Trump," Bo said during the plant tour.

There has been speculation that the Trump administration and its emphasis on economic nationalism may spill over into a trade war with the export-minded Chinese government.

Meanwhile, CRRC employees in China are building a three-quarter scale mockup of the cars that will one day be made in Springfield for the MBTA, Greater Boston's subway system. That train will be on display at stations all over the city in the spring, said Mark Smith, general manager of CRRC's Springfield manufacturing facility.

The workshop has enough track to line up six new MBTA Red Line or Orange Line cars inside, as well as overhead gantry cranes capable of picking those cars up, moving them and setting them down as if they were part of a giant's model railroad.

The factory was built in Springfield because the state of Massachusetts, under former Gov. Deval Patrick, made it a requirement for companies that wanted to build new cars for the MBTA subway system do at least some of the manufacturing in Massachusetts.

The provision set off a statewide search for sites by the various bidders. CRRC eventually settled on this 40-acre former Westinghouse site.

Westinghouse employed as many as 7,000 people on Page Boulevard and used the site as an early radio station before it closed in 1970. Ameristar cleared it with hopes of building a casino. When their bid failed, CRRC stepped in.

Since getting that $566 million contract in 2014 to manufacture 284 subway cars for the MBTA, CRRC has added more work.

In December, the MBTA voted to spend $277 million on 120 additional Red Line cars starting in June 2022, once the first order is completed. The proposal includes an option to purchase 14 more Red Line cars in the future.

Also in December, Southern California officials voted to buy 64 new subway cars for the Los Angeles-area Metro Red Line and Purple Line from CRRC at a cost of $178.4 million. The Los Angeles deal also comes with the option to buy more cars.

CRRC may be tasked with doing regular maintenance on transit cars owned by the MBTA. Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said in December that there are very few contractors able to do that work and the T plans to step up its maintenance schedule and keep its cars in better shape for longer.

CRRC moved into the former Westinghouse office building on Page Boulevard in the last week of January, Smith said.

Smith is a veteran of plant startups, having helped establish automobile plants for major manufacturers in Alabama, Kentucky and Canada.

He said CRRC already has five local employees, with a sixth coming on board this month. He and his staff have interviewed hundreds of potential production workers and the first 22 have already been selected for intensive training here in the states.

Those 22 will be the first cohort of CRRC employees to go to China for more training. They will go, probably, in April. All told, CRRC will need about 200 production workers.

Construction continues at the site. Smith said work is on pace to be completed in the spring.

"We look like we are pretty well on schedule for April or May. That will lead to a three-month commissioning process. The factory should be ready to go by July of 2017, just about five months from now," Smith said.

The plant will reach full capacity in 2020, about a year after work begins on the Los Angeles cars.

At this point, CRRC already has enough work booked to keep the plant working through the year 2024.

That doesn't count the work CRRC is bidding on right now: cars for the New York City Subway and the Long Island Railroad.

The New York City Subway job alone could mean an order for 1,025 subway cars over five years. CRRC plans to build a separate plant for that project on an industrial brownfield in Fort Edward, New York, which is near Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs, 134 miles and an almost two-hour drive from Springfield.

Bo said in December that Springfield would possibly play a role manufacturing components -- the example he used was wheel assemblies called trucks -- for the New York cars.

But Springfield's facility is not large enough to serve New York City, which by itself is 40 percent of the U.S. market.

The cars will come to CRRC in Springfield as shells manufactured in China. Shipped here by sea, probably to the Port of Philadelphia and then carried north by rail, the shells will spend about three months at the Springfield factory getting everything from lights to motors installed. Then they'll get tested on the factory's 2,000-foot test track that will run along Interstate 291.

Springfield was once a national center for rail car manufacturing.

Wason Manufacturing Co., which was one of the largest makers of railroad cars and locomotives in the country, operated here from 1845 to the Great Depression. The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum has a Wason trolley car.

 

[AndrewJin]

Awesome news, CRRC Springfield factory will assemble trains for Boston, LA, now adding Philadelphia, and more in the future!
This is great not just for local american jobs, but will bring thousands of jobs to Chinese companies that build bogie, railway chips, pantograph, shock absorbers, etc.

From my perspective, the entire America's subway and suburban railways need to be completely rebuilt, both tracks and rolling stock. That is one of the most deadly railway systems in the world.

Springfield CRRC plant gets $137.5M Philly train car job

SPRINGFIELD -- The CRRC plant now under construction in East Springfield was awarded a deal Thursday to build 45 train cars for SEPTA, Philadelphia's transit system, for $137.5 million.

The deal includes an option for SEPTA to buy 10 more cars for another $23.5 million, according to a report on Philly.com, the online home of the Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.

The cars are expected to arrive in Philadelphia in 2019. They'll be double-deckers, adding about 6,000 seats to SEPTA's busiest commuter rail lines.

The Philadelphia deal, along with a Los Angeles order announced in December, is another sign that CRRC is accomplishing its goal of creating a rail car industry in Springfield by filling needs beyond the MBTA contracts that caused it to be built.

An arm of the Chinese state railways, CRRC built its factory here to fulfill a $566 million contract it received in 2014 from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to manufacture 284 cars for the Red and Orange lines on Greater Boston's subway system. Those cars are expected to start production next year.

Subsequently, the MBTA awarded CRRC a $277 million contract to build an additional 120 Red Line cars starting in 2022. This most recent MBTA deal includes an option to purchase 14 more cars.

The Los Angels deal is for $178.4 million to purchase 64 new subway cars for the Metro Red Line and Purple Line.

CRRC executives have said officials from Atlanta's MARTA transit system have already toured the Springfield factory.

CRRC is has also proposed a factory in Fort Edward, New York, near Saratoga Springs, that would make transit cars for New York City.

Massachusetts went without federal funding on its initial Red and Orange line orders so it could require that the cars be assembled somewhere in the commonwealth. That touched off competition among companies building plants and cities that wanted to host those plants. Springfield won.

The first group of CRRC workers leaves for China and training at CRRC's facilities there early in April.

All told, CRRC expects to have more than 150 production workers in Springfield. CRRC said production jobs will pay $55,000 to $60,000 a year.




Springfield factory, still under construction, on track to supply nation's rail cars

SPRINGFIELD -- With 204,000 square feet of space -- that's more than three and a half football fields -- the massive CRRC rail car manufacturing plant nearing completion on Page Boulevard in East Springfield is the largest industrial development the city has seen in generations.

And the Chinese executives planning the $95 million facility say they hope to someday build a second and similarly sized plant right next to it if demand for transit, light rail and intercity rail passenger cars in North America is as strong as they expect it to become.

Jia Bo, CRRC MA vice president, casually mentioned that fact through a translator while pointing to what is now an open field beside the huge manufacturing. Bo was leading a tour of city officials through a facility he and his colleagues call the "workshop."

It's not idle boasting. CRRC is working to bring as much work to Springfield as it can, despite its plans for factories in upstate New York and elsewhere.


CRRC, already the largest manufacturer of railroad rolling stock in the world, plans to boost overseas sales to $15 billion in U.S. dollars by 2020, according to state-run Chinese media. That would be an increase from just $8 billion in overseas orders this year.

Also, Chinese media reports that CRRC is working to take over the Czech Republic's Skoda Transportation, a major European player in the rail car industry.

With their fleets of subway, transit, light rail, trolley and intercity passenger rolling stock aging, the U.S. and Canada are seen as growth markets by CRRC and its Chinese management.

"And we are very hopeful that there will be even more demand with more infrastructure spending under President Donald Trump," Bo said during the plant tour.

There has been speculation that the Trump administration and its emphasis on economic nationalism may spill over into a trade war with the export-minded Chinese government.

Meanwhile, CRRC employees in China are building a three-quarter scale mockup of the cars that will one day be made in Springfield for the MBTA, Greater Boston's subway system. That train will be on display at stations all over the city in the spring, said Mark Smith, general manager of CRRC's Springfield manufacturing facility.

The workshop has enough track to line up six new MBTA Red Line or Orange Line cars inside, as well as overhead gantry cranes capable of picking those cars up, moving them and setting them down as if they were part of a giant's model railroad.

The factory was built in Springfield because the state of Massachusetts, under former Gov. Deval Patrick, made it a requirement for companies that wanted to build new cars for the MBTA subway system do at least some of the manufacturing in Massachusetts.

The provision set off a statewide search for sites by the various bidders. CRRC eventually settled on this 40-acre former Westinghouse site.

Westinghouse employed as many as 7,000 people on Page Boulevard and used the site as an early radio station before it closed in 1970. Ameristar cleared it with hopes of building a casino. When their bid failed, CRRC stepped in.

Since getting that $566 million contract in 2014 to manufacture 284 subway cars for the MBTA, CRRC has added more work.

In December, the MBTA voted to spend $277 million on 120 additional Red Line cars starting in June 2022, once the first order is completed. The proposal includes an option to purchase 14 more Red Line cars in the future.

Also in December, Southern California officials voted to buy 64 new subway cars for the Los Angeles-area Metro Red Line and Purple Line from CRRC at a cost of $178.4 million. The Los Angeles deal also comes with the option to buy more cars.

CRRC may be tasked with doing regular maintenance on transit cars owned by the MBTA. Massachusetts Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said in December that there are very few contractors able to do that work and the T plans to step up its maintenance schedule and keep its cars in better shape for longer.

CRRC moved into the former Westinghouse office building on Page Boulevard in the last week of January, Smith said.

Smith is a veteran of plant startups, having helped establish automobile plants for major manufacturers in Alabama, Kentucky and Canada.

He said CRRC already has five local employees, with a sixth coming on board this month. He and his staff have interviewed hundreds of potential production workers and the first 22 have already been selected for intensive training here in the states.

Those 22 will be the first cohort of CRRC employees to go to China for more training. They will go, probably, in April. All told, CRRC will need about 200 production workers.

Construction continues at the site. Smith said work is on pace to be completed in the spring.

"We look like we are pretty well on schedule for April or May. That will lead to a three-month commissioning process. The factory should be ready to go by July of 2017, just about five months from now," Smith said.

The plant will reach full capacity in 2020, about a year after work begins on the Los Angeles cars.

At this point, CRRC already has enough work booked to keep the plant working through the year 2024.

That doesn't count the work CRRC is bidding on right now: cars for the New York City Subway and the Long Island Railroad.

The New York City Subway job alone could mean an order for 1,025 subway cars over five years. CRRC plans to build a separate plant for that project on an industrial brownfield in Fort Edward, New York, which is near Glens Falls and Saratoga Springs, 134 miles and an almost two-hour drive from Springfield.

Bo said in December that Springfield would possibly play a role manufacturing components -- the example he used was wheel assemblies called trucks -- for the New York cars.

But Springfield's facility is not large enough to serve New York City, which by itself is 40 percent of the U.S. market.

The cars will come to CRRC in Springfield as shells manufactured in China. Shipped here by sea, probably to the Port of Philadelphia and then carried north by rail, the shells will spend about three months at the Springfield factory getting everything from lights to motors installed. Then they'll get tested on the factory's 2,000-foot test track that will run along Interstate 291.

Springfield was once a national center for rail car manufacturing.

Wason Manufacturing Co., which was one of the largest makers of railroad cars and locomotives in the country, operated here from 1845 to the Great Depression. The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum has a Wason trolley car.

I forgot to mention about the 1.3 billion Chicago metro deal.
It seems that CRRC Springfield alone cannot meet the demand of replacing all the deadly trains in US.
CRRC is quite aggressive in Australia, Africa and South America, but needs to do more in Europe though I acknowledge it is very hard in a mature railway market. Start with Central and Eastern Europe!

@Shotgunner51 @TaiShang @Mista @AViet @Gibbs

@Gibbs R u in Melbourne?

 

[AndrewJin]

Yep wish NYC modernize subway soon, that would be a huge exports order!

I think all lines in US need replacement as soon as possible to avoid those crazy derailment and constant technical failures. Have you ever heard of any technical failure more than one hour in Shanghai metro? Maybe happen every 2-3 years? That is happening regularly in US.

 

[AndrewJin]

I think they have mixed different factories.

Apparently the 1.3 billion Chicago metro order won't be fulfilled in Springfield but locally in Chicago.

China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) Corporation Ltd. Vice President Sun Yongcai speaks during a ground-breaking ceremony for a railcar assembly plant in Chicago, the United States, March 16, 2017. As the investor, CRRC Sifang America held a ground-breaking ceremony for a railcar assembly plant in Chicago's Southeast Side on Thursday. The investment by Chinese firm CRRC Sifang in Chicago will bring more job opportunities and contribute to the local economy, said Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, in a letter to congratulate a new railcar assembly plant Thursday. (Xinhua/Wang Ping)

 

[TaiShang]

567 million Boston
1.3 billion Chicago
137 million Philadelphia
647 million LA
Hope good news about the San F. bid coming soon
How about those deadly and damn old trains in NYC?
Got to completely replace them!

CRRC bonanza as railcars to supply US rail systems
China Daily, March 29, 2017

Technicians adjust parts in a metro train in an assembly plant in one of CRRC's subsidiaries－CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co－in Zhuzhou, Hunan province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese railcars will soon be humming along both coasts of the United States, after Beijing-headquartered China Railway Rolling Stock Corp signed deals with various US transport authorities.

"We are helping President Donald Trump realize his infrastructure-rebuilding plan," said Yu Weiping, vice-president of CRRC. "It's win-win cooperation."

In a deal worth up to $647 million, CRRC will build 64 new railcars for the Los Angeles subway system, creating 50 local jobs, according to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The news coincided with CRRC winning a $137.5 million bid to assemble 45 railcars for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, which was announced on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, CRRC Sifang America broke ground in Chicago for a $100 million plant to assemble railcars for the city's transportation authority. The deal is worth $1.3 billion.

In 2015, CRRC began construction of a $95 million plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, to build railcars for Boston's transit authority, in a contract worth $547 million.

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with (the LA Metro) to design and build a state-of-the-art vehicle for Los Angeles," said Jia Bo, vice-president for CRRC in Massachusetts, where the metro railcars will be assembled.

CRRC is planning a facility in the Los Angeles area to manufacture major components for propulsion, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems for the cars, creating 50 local jobs. More than 60 percent of the component parts will be US-made.

"We will continue to engage the community and partner with organizations and institutions to stimulate the local economy through education, training and job creation," Jia said.

CRRC has committed to delivering the first pilot vehicle by the spring of 2020, and the entire base order of 64 subway cars by September 2021.

LA Metro also has the option to buy an additional 218 subway cars. The base order with options is valued at $647 million.

The metro cars' exteriors will be manufactured in one of CRRC's factories in Northeast China, while the final assembly will take place in Massachusetts.

Tony Liu, assistant marketing director at CRRC's Qingdao Sifang unit, said that the company remained focused on several US projects, including a San Francisco transit project.

"The rolling stock market in the US will come to another round of renewal for the existing fleet," Liu said. "We see great potential for the market in the US in the coming decade."

 

[TaiShang]

It seems that CRRC Springfield alone cannot meet the demand of replacing all the deadly trains in US.
CRRC is quite aggressive in Australia, Africa and South America, but needs to do more in Europe though I acknowledge it is very hard in a mature railway market. Start with Central and Eastern Europe!

Very good news.

Integrate the CRRC with the Belt and Road (especially CEE) while also concentrating on immature markets with development opportunities such as the US.

I agree that breaking into mature Western European markets would offer a greater challenge.

 

[JSCh]

Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 21:59
MTR on the fast track to go global
By Luo Weiteng

(Graphic by Alex Tang/China Daily)​

Hong Kong-based MTR Corp has won the franchise to run one of the Britain’s busiest and largest commuter networks, a landmark deal which shows how Asia’s financial hub could play a bigger part in the Belt and Road Initiative.

MTR formed a 30-percent-owned venture with Britain’s transport operator First Group to take over the running of South West Trains in a seven-year deal from August this year.

The £2.6 billion ($3.3 billion) contract, of which £1.2 billion will be reinvested in the railway, involves delivering 52,000 passenger places to London Waterloo station every day during peak hours by 2020. This requires a fleet of 90 new trains, with free Wi-Fi at all stations and on many trains.

Founded in the 1970s as the city’s sole commuter rail operator, MTR is 75.09-percent controlled by the Hong Kong government,

The deal puts MTR on course to beef up its presence in Britain after it was chosen in July 2014 to run the forthcoming Crossrail, recently renamed the Elizabeth Line, that spans London.

This also followed the company’s reported participation in bidding for part of the Sydney Metro City & Southwest rail contract worth up to HK$20 billion ($2.57 billion).

READ MORE: MTR announces 3% Octopus rebate

The bidding is for a franchise extension, after the firm was awarded operations of Sydney Metro North West link back in September 2014, via a 60-percent-owned venture.

"MTR, whose railway service in Hong Kong is known for a 99.9-percent punctuality record, stands as the poster child of how public service products could be offered in a highly efficient and profit-making manner in Hong Kong and even abroad,” said Fielding Chen Shiyuan, Hong Kong-based Asia economist at Bloomberg Intelligence.

The MTR’s global business footprint polishes Hong Kong’s brand as a leading exporter of management and operation expertise in public service.

Despite all the hype about Hong Kong’s role in the Belt and Road Initiative, Chen believed this was where the territory should sharpen its edge to seize the opportunity.

Projects along the Belt and Road route, like the China-Thailand high-speed railway, could give Hong Kong the chance to make a difference. “And MTR, with its prominent global recognition, is surely one of the flagship brands that SAR should promote,” Chen noted.

ALSO READ: MTR: Long-awaited South Island Line opens

Earlier this month, the transit operator posted a 3.2-percent increase in profit for last year from its Hong Kong transport operations, to HK$2.57 billion. Hong Kong transport services remained the biggest revenue contributor, accounting for roughly 40 percent of revenue.

As one of the few profitable railway operators in the world, whose ticket revenue more than covers operating costs, MTR also set an example for cities in the Chinese mainland, said Jacob Zhou, Hong Kong-based analyst with one of the “Big Four” accounting firms.

The railway giant was involved in the building of, and now operates, three metro lines in Beijing, and one metro line each in Shenzhen and Hangzhou. It should be given the green light for more projects to replicate its success in the country, where urban infrastructure construction is well underway, Zhou said.

"The story of bringing in competent foreign bidders to improve the quality of domestic public service products should also work for the Chinese mainland,” Zhou said. “MTR has what it takes to play a bigger role in China’s urbanization."

 

[samsara]

CRRC bonanza as railcars to supply US rail systems

By Hezi Jiang in New York - China Daily - March 29, 2017

Chinese rolling stock producer lands contracts across the nation

Technicians adjust parts in a metro train in an assembly plant in one of CRRC's subsidiaries -
CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co - in Zhuzhou, Hunan province. (Photo/Xinhua)​

Chinese railcars will soon be humming along both coasts of the United States, after Beijing-headquartered China Railway Rolling Stock Corp signed deals with various US transport authorities.

"We are helping President Donald Trump realize his infrastructure-rebuilding plan," said Yu Weiping, vice-president of CRRC. "It's win-win cooperation."

In a deal worth up to US$647 million, CRRC will build 64 new railcars for the Los Angeles subway system, creating 50 local jobs, according to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The news coincided with CRRC winning a US$137.5 million bid to assemble 45 railcars for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, which was announced on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Earlier this month, CRRC Sifang America broke ground in Chicago for a US$100 million plant to assemble railcars for the city's transportation authority. The deal is worth US$1.3 billion.

In 2015, CRRC began construction of a US$95 million plant in Springfield, Massachusetts, to build railcars for Boston's transit authority, in a contract worth US$547 million.

"We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with (the LA Metro) to design and build a state-of-the-art vehicle for Los Angeles," said Jia Bo, vice-president for CRRC in Massachusetts, where the metro railcars will be assembled.

CRRC is planning a facility in the Los Angeles area to manufacture major components for propulsion, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems for the cars, creating 50 local jobs. More than 60 percent of the component parts will be US-made.

"We will continue to engage the community and partner with organizations and institutions to stimulate the local economy through education, training and job creation," Jia said.

CRRC has committed to delivering the first pilot vehicle by the spring of 2020, and the entire base order of 64 subway cars by September 2021.

LA Metro also has the option to buy an additional 218 subway cars. The base order with options is valued at US$647 million.

The metro cars' exteriors will be manufactured in one of CRRC's factories in Northeast China, while the final assembly will take place in Massachusetts.

Tony Liu, assistant marketing director at CRRC's Qingdao Sifang unit, said that the company remained focused on several US projects, including a San Francisco transit project.

"The rolling stock market in the US will come to another round of renewal for the existing fleet," Liu said. "We see great potential for the market in the US in the coming decade."

Reuters contributed to this story.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com

http://www.chinadailyasia.com/business/2017-03/29/content_15593329.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Btw, after watching the biopic of Deng Xiaoping, I watched also another TV series about Premier Zhou Enlai, a recent make (2016), titled as "Haitang Yijiu" 【海棠依旧】 (Crab Apple Tree Still There) both aired by CCTV 4 中文国际, one after another The TV series Haitang Yijiu commemorates the 118th anniversary of former premier Zhou Enlai's birth and 95 years of the founding of the CCP. Read its story here.

It's a great TV series, worth very much of one's viewing time, I strongly recommend any one having interest upon the history of modern China to watch this series if has not yet. Unfortunately no EngSub, but there are episodes of Zhou met with Kissinger & President Nixon.

Below is the playlist of 41 episodes at youtube, uploaded by the series maker itself

Haitang Yijiu 《海棠依旧》 (Crab Apple Tree Still There) (2016) - New TV series about China's First Premier: Zhou Enlai's life and times
【海棠依旧】周总理以中华崛起为己任，为国家操劳、为人民服务，鞠躬尽瘁的壮丽一生

 

[samsara]

China to get rolling on stalled Indonesian high-speed rail line

Chinese bank expected to release funds for project after delays in government clearances and local resistance to the route

By Liu Zhen, Kristin Huang - SCMP
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 25 March, 2017, 7:02am
UPDATED : Saturday, 25 March, 2017, 7:02am

China is expected to get moving “soon” on construction of Indonesia’s beleaguered high-speed rail project, a landmark venture for both countries.

China Development Bank could disburse pre-agreed loans for the 142km Jakarta-Bandung rail line as early as the end of this month, according to sources.

The project has been stalled for over a year amid delays in government clearances and local resistance to the route, but if it does go ahead, it will be a milestone in Beijing’s ambitions to export its high-speed rail technology around the world.

“The project is now moving forward positively,” Soegeng Rahardjo, Indonesia’s ambassador to Beijing, said on Tuesday (March 21).

Back on track: China’s high-speed railway project in Indonesia to resume soon as permit granted

Indonesian State-owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno also said on Tuesday the CDB funding would be in place as soon as the plan for the route was signed by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

The route plan had already been given approval by the ministers involved and submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat.

“[The CDB] are still waiting for the ... plan, and if that’s done then there is no problem,” she said.

CDB has committed to cover around 75 per cent of the project’s US$5.2 billion cost, but reportedly under the condition that all of the land be acquired before disbursing the loans. Rini said CDB was not withholding funds for the land. “So far they have already put in Rp 500 billion (HK$291 million),” she said.

Zhang Mingliang, a Southeast Asian affairs analyst at Jinan University, said it would be a big step forward to have the funding in place but there could be more obstacles on the way to the 2018 completion deadline and the 2019 target to have the line running.

China is keen to export its high-speed rail technology and has made it a key element of its “One Belt, One Road” initiative to revive trade from Asia to Europe.

It’s made its biggest progress on the Indonesian project to connect Halim in East Jakarta to Tegalluar in Bandung, West Java, fending off Japan in 2015 to win the bid to build and operate the line. If realised, it would be the first time another country has fully adopted Chinese high-speed rail standards, from train carriages to operating systems.

Xu Liping, a specialist in Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said countries in the region had less experience of and trust in the Chinese technology compared to that from the West and Japan.

To secure the deal, China offered the Indonesian government breaks on financing. Under the agreement, China Railway International will be in charge of 70 per cent of the construction work, while Indonesian state companies will handle the rest of the line.

Ground was broken on the line in January last year but the project was halted soon after it started due to objections from provincial representatives on the route.

Why does Indonesia cling to its plagued Chinese infrastructure projects?

Progress has been held back since then as the developer Kereta Cepat Indonesia China has sought acquire land and clearance from disparate government departments.

KCIC is a joint venture between China Railway International and an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned firms, with the Chinese holding 40 per cent of the shares.

“China was too hasty to set up a model project in Southeast Asia and for ‘One Belt One Road’ ... and underestimated its difficulties,” Zhang said. “Even after the start of the actual construction work, political, economic, environmental, religious and labour issues could all well stumble this project in the future.”

Additional reporting by Kristin Huang

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...et-rolling-stalled-indonesian-high-speed-rail

 

[TaiShang]

CDB has committed to cover around 75 per cent of the project’s US$5.2 billion cost, but reportedly under the condition that all of the land be acquired before disbursing the loans. Rini said CDB was not withholding funds for the land. “So far they have already put in Rp 500 billion (HK$291 million),” she said.

That's smart; let the national government handle whatever disputes there are without China side getting involved. Conditioning the release of the funds to the clearance by the government is also smart because it prevents any potential loss of investment due to post-release local troubles.

China has had some nasty experience on this account, therefore, it seems to be more careful now.

If Chinese companies were directly involved and confronted the locals, they would be made scapegoats and, under pressure, governments could walk back on their promise.

 

[samsara]

https://twitter.com/x/status/848491020899823616

China's top train maker receives order from India

Source: Xinhua| 2017-04-02 17:46:44 |Editor: Tian Shaohui

DALIAN, April 2 (Xinhua) -- An affiliated company under China's top train maker CRRC Corporation has acquired a subway train order from Nagpur, India, the company said Sunday.

A total of 69 train coaches will be produced by CRRC Dalian for subway operations in Nagpur, the largest city in central India, according to an agreement signed by the company and a local subway company.

The trains are for two urban rails in the city with a total length of 38 km.

The agreement, signed on March 27, also includes a 10-year train maintenance project, according to a statement by the company.

CRRC Dalian received its first train order in May 2015, providing 112 train coaches for the Calcutta subway.

With more cities planning to build urban rail systems, India has become an important potential market for Chinese train makers.

The order is expected to be completed this year, the statement said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/02/c_136178624.htm

 

[shi12jun]

 

[samsara]

Contract on building high-speed train project signed in Indonesia

Source: Xinhua 2017-04-05

JAKARTA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- A consortium of Chinese and Indonesian firms on Tuesday signed a contract with KCIC, a firm tasked with monitoring the high-speed train project linking Jakarta to Bandung, unveiling the construction phase of the project.

The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract was signed in the premises of Indonesia's state-run construction firm Wijaya Karya (Wika) here on Tuesday afternoon.

The 142-km-long railway project is the first of such in Indonesia as well as the first in the whole region of Southeast Asia.

It is expected to be built in three years and the high speed train could reach a speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

The train would make passengers experience shortened traveling time of around half an hour between the two cities, spurring economic activities along the line.

On behalf of firms of the consortium, Project Director of High Speed Railway Contract Consortium (HSRCC) Xiao Songxin said that through good cooperation and communication, the project can be finished in 2019 as scheduled.

"We will work hard to attain the best quality standards for the Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway train project," he said.

KCIC President Director Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan said that the firm has settled most of the lingering problems, including the official permits and form of enterprises to run the first project of high speed train in the country.

Hanggoro was also optimistic about negotiations with China Development Bank (CDB) over 4.7 billion U.S. dollars of fund to partly finance the project.

The signing of the contract was witnessed by Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng and Indonesia's Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki.

Ambassador Xie believes that with full support of the Chinese and the Indonesian governments and hard work of contractors, the project can be settled on scheduled time.

Hailing the signing of the contract, Masduki said that the project would lead to a breakthrough in Indonesia's national train transport system.

"This project would become the cornerstone for Indonesia's train modernization," he said.

Editor: Mu Xuequan

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-04/05/c_136182498.htm

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"The 142-km-long railway project is the first of such in Indonesia as well as the first in the whole region of Southeast Asia."

I just realized that this high-speed railway is the first in the entire Southeast Asia... therefore in this sense Indonesia is leading ahead of its neighbors.