China's Railway Ministry has awarded contracts for upgrading key railway lines by raising the speed to about 125 miles per hour on the five routes, a Ministry spokesman said. China's has agreed to controversially use Japanese technology in the upgrade – estimated at $12 billion US – while utilizing the technology of worldwide contractors.
The consortium – comprised of China’s Nanche Sifang Locomotive, French and Canadian firms, as well as a controversial Japanese establishment – plans to offer a modernized version of Japanese shinkansen, or 'bullet' trains, which operate at speeds up to 172 miles per hour in Japan.
The Chinese initiative aims to upgrade 1,250 miles of track because of a lack of capacity for passenger and cargo rail transport. Railway Ministry officials have said China needs to spend two trillion yuan ($240 billion US) on expanding the rail system, which is operating at full capacity and can only handle about a third of current demand for cargo transport.
China began raising the speed at which trains operate in 1997. The most recent upgrade took the average speed for the fastest lines to 100 miles/hour.
The consortium announcement was met with opposition from activists who are outraged by Japanese involvement in the plans; the contracts mark the first agreement to use Japanese shinkansen technology in China. In a statement on its Web site, the “September 18” group specifically accused Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan of assisting Japan's military occupation of China in World War II.
The group also launched an on-line petition to the China’s government on Monday. The group takes its name from the date in 1931 when Japanese troops invaded China and plans to deliver the petition of nearly 500,000 signatures to the railway ministry and other government departments on September 18.
Other Japanese firms involved in the Nanche consortium include Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric with a contract worth 3.83 billion dollars C.
Bombardier Sifang Power Transportation – a Chinese-based joint venture of Canadian firm Bombardier – was awarded a $3.46-billion dollar contract for the upgrade. Bombardier will provide 140 passenger trains, called electrical multiple units, as part of the large rail modernization program valued at 380 billion yen. The company already manufactures most of Europe’s self-propelled electrical multiple units, that have a top speed of 125 miles/hour.
Alstom is teaming up with Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., in a 4.92-billion dollar C deal. Alstom's TGV, or Train a Grande Vitesse, operates at a top speed of 218 miles per hour.
The companies were chosen for the technology, design and production expertise they would be able to provide to China and Chinese companies. The reports did not clearly indicate which companies were awarded which projects.
The five railway lines to be upgraded include a line between Beijing and the northeastern industrial hub of Shenyang.
The projects do not include a planned 700-mile high-speed trunk line between Beijing and Shanghai. Chinese officials have not settled on what technology they will use for the new rail link, but they plan to open the project to international bidding once a decision is reached later this year. Japan, France and Germany have all begun lobbying Beijing for the contract, which is worth as much as $14 billion US.
