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Siemens to help China build one of the world's fastest trains
(bloomberg.com)
Updated: 2005-11-21 14:28
Siemens AG, which helped China build the world's first commercial
magnetic-levitation train, said it'll provide technology for the nation to set
up one of the fastest rail networks on earth to ease transport bottlenecks.
Germany's largest engineering company said it will make three trains that can
run at top speeds of 300 kilometers (186 miles) an hour and help Tangshan
Locomotive & Rolling Stock Work build the remaining 57 locomotives. The 669
million euro ($788 million) contract was signed in Germany on Nov. 11, Siemens
said on its Web site.
China's government has set aside 100 billion yuan ($12 billion) to expand the
nation's railway network by 35 percent to 100,000 kilometers in the next five
years, giving Siemens and Bombardier Inc. the world's largest market for railway
rolling stock. Asia's second-largest economy is upgrading its rail service so
that it can improve the speed and efficiency of moving people and cargo.
Siemens and Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG helped China build a train in 2002 in
Shanghai capable of running at a top speed of 430 kilometers (267 miles) an
hour. The so-called maglev train runs from Shanghai's Pudong airport to the
city's Longyang subway station, a 35-kilometer route, in less than 8 minutes.
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