China takes 10% of global rail market

[TaiShang]

China plans guideline to boost equipment export

February 7, 2015

China plans to draw up a guideline to help its equipment makers, particularly railway and nuclear companies, to expand exports, the country's top economic planning body said on Friday.

A steel dome is hoisted onto the No 1 reactor at Haiyang nuclear power plant in Shandong province in March 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]


Formulation of the guideline has just begun, and it will include supportive financial policies to promote exports of Chinese-made equipment.

The development was announced by Wang Xiaotao, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a news conference.

"There is global enthusiasm for infrastructure projects, and railway construction has become an important measure for many countries to promote growth, both in developing and developed nations," Wang said.

"This provides a key opportunity for China's railway firms to go global."

China's locomotive exports reached $4 billion last year, accounting for 10 percent of the global market. Key markets include Asia, South Africa and Latin America.

Analysts said the combination of China's top two train-makers, CSR Corp and CNR Corp, is expected to further strengthen competitiveness of Chinese companies.

Wang said China is involved in initial discussions with several countries on the possibility of exporting its nuclear power equipment. It is exporting the technology to Pakistan and Argentina.

China has assisted in building six nuclear reactors in Pakistan with a total installed capacity of 3.4 million kilowatts, he said.

The country signed a landmark deal on Wednesday to export nuclear technology to Argentina, including a heavy-water nuclear reactor that was developed based on Canadian technology.

He said the country will take the security issues of all overseas nuclear projects very seriously and has adopted stringent standards after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011.

A report by Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co said that after high-speed trains, nuclear technology will become another growth point for China's advanced-equipment manufacturing industry.

The nation is pushing its leading nuclear companies to improve their competitiveness and boost their presence overseas.

According to Chinese media reports, regulators have approved the merger of China Power Investment Corp and State Nuclear Power Technology Corp.

However, some observers believe that nuclear companies are unlikely to make progress in foreign markets as rapidly as producers of rolling stock.

Ma Yi, an expert at China Nuclear Power Engineering Co, said nuclear equipment involves specialized products. "There are tough demands from buyers, and relatively high technical and management levels are required to ensure security," Ma said.

Equipment exports in industries including electricity, telecommunications, petrochemicals and aviation all witnessed rapid growth last year.

Chinese equipment manufacturing exports reached 2.1 trillion yuan ($340 billion) last year, accounting for 17 percent of the country's exports for 2014.

 

[Echo_419]

Railways witness China's rising power
February 4, 2015

This year's Spring Festival will be the first time Wu Rongrong uses China's bullet train to return home.

The 2,000 km trip from Beijing, where the 27-year-old works selling sporting goods, to her home city of Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous region will take about 10 hours, a huge improvement on the 28 hours the journey once took her on slow trains.

The convenience, however, comes at a cost, with the price of her high speed rail ticket three times that of ordinary trains, still half the cost of a flight. But speed and comfort are the most important when making such a long journey, she says.

China's massive Lunar New Year travel rush started on Wednesday. An estimated 2.8 billion trips will take place during the 40-day period as a majority of the country's population returns home for family reunions.

Several new high-speed railway lines with a total length of about 5,000 km were put into operation at the end of last year, expanding the access of bullet trains to remote western provinces or regions such as Xinjiang, Gansu and Guizhou.

Twenty-eight out of the mainland's 31 provinces now have access to bullet trains, just six years after the country's first such line which links Tianjin to Beijing in 2008.

The widespread accessibility of the service has some people saying China has entered an era of high-speed railways.

China's 130 history with rail is marked by different feelings and expectations from each generation.

When China's first railway line, the 14.5-km-long Wusong railway in Shanghai, was built by British merchants in 1876, it was opposed by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) officials in power, who were wary of outside influence after several invasions by Western forces.

Today, high-speed railways have been a remarkable symbol of China's rising national strength.

"To be prosperous and strong, China must build railways," said Wang Mengshu, an academician of China Academy of Engineering and railway tunnel expert.

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), a forerunner of China's anti-feudalism revolution, once laid out a plan to build a national railway network with a total length of 160,000 km.

But due to invasions, domestic turmoil and wars, China only had 21,800 km of railway lines in 1949.

Now, China has 110,000 km of rails, including 16,000 km of high-speed lines. The length of China's high-speed rail lines accounts for more than half of that of the world.

After years of technological upgrades and innovations, China's high-speed railway technologies are among the most advanced in the world.

"The increase of speed has made inter-city distances closer. More people choose high-speed railways for travel. I feel my job rather worthwhile," said Xue Jun, a 47-year-old bullet train driver in east China's Shandong Province.

Since the end of the 1980s, Xue has driven steam, diesel and electric locomotives, feeling deeply proud of the rapid development of the country's railway industry.

"Bullet trains are one of the most important highlights in the country's massive industrialization over the past 30 years of reform and opening up," said Zhang Yiwu, a professor with Peking University.

The high-speed trains also mark China's rising power and influence globally, he said.

Bullet train services will further improve the quality of people's life and contribute to the rapid development of underdeveloped areas, said Zhang.

Yet the country's booming railway sector sparked worries and doubts after a bullet train collision left 40 people dead on July 23, 2011 in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province.

The accident has nothing to do with train speed as the train was not speeding when the collision occurred, said Wang, who joined the official investigation into the cause of the tragedy.

Despite that, China's high-speed technology, as a leading global technology, has greatly boosted national moral, Wang said.

Last year, bullet trains transported more than 800 million passengers in China.

Recently, the country's high-speed railway equipment manufacturers have sped up efforts to "go overseas" for investment and projects. The technology is often used by politicians as a means for cooperation with other countries.

A high-speed railway line between Beijing and Zhangjiakou is expected to start construction this year, which will cut the travel time of the two cities to about 50 minutes from more than three hours via current trains.

With Beijing and Zhangjiakou bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, winning would be a perfect opportunity to further showcase the country's high-speed rail technology to the world.

Trains Made in China Soon to Travel Across US
© AFP 2015/ STR

12:23 05.02.2015(updated 13:05 05.02.2015)

State-owned Chinese firms are currently in discussions to sell high-speed trains to the United States.
China’s state-owned firms are in discussion to sell high-speed trains to the United States, senior officials said on Thursday, according to AFP.

Chinese Manufacturer to Supply Nearly 300 Subway Cars to Boston Underground

A deal might generate controversy, considering two countries have a lack of political disagreement on some issues, AFP reports.

China has been building high-speed rail networks in Turkey and Venezuela, and now Chinese leaders are getting actively involved in the US market.

China's railway equipment exports increased by 34.7 percent annually from $80 million in 2001 to $3.74 billion last year, said Zhi Luxun, a senior official with the commerce ministry's foreign trade department, AFP reports.

Read more: Trains Made in China Soon to Travel Across US / Sputnik International

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