GE and CSR announce joint veture to develop US Bullet Train

[greenlion]

Will see CRH trains in USA soon?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...invest-50-million-in-high-speed-rail-bid.html

GE, China’s 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., China’s 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 GE’s focus on overseas markets and partnerships.

The rail venture supports Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt’s goal of investing more than $1.5 billion in joint ventures in “key high-technology” sectors with China, adding $500 million to GE’s research centers in the country and boosting U.S. manufacturing.

President Barack Obama’s 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.

GE’s agreement on a so-called cooperative framework with CSR follows comments last week by Zhao Xiaogang, the Chinese company’s 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.

China’s passenger trains reach more than 220 miles (354 kilometers) an hour, while GE is the world’s biggest maker of diesel-electric locomotives. The venture aims to meet Buy America standards for U.S. content, GE said.

Newest design of Chinese Bullet train, CSR's CRH380A, CNR & Siemens's CRH380B, models on display at the 7th World Congress on High Speed Rail.

On recently trial run at the Beijing-Shanghai HSR (designed speed 380 km/h) 16 car version CRH380AL reach top speed of 486.1 km/h at December 3, 2010, While top speed of CRH380BL, also a 16 car version, reach 457 km/h at December 5, 2010.

 

[anthony263]

Nice looking trains, maybe the government should have just purchased a few of these instead of the IEP

 

[mumrar]

Nice looking trains, maybe the government should have just purchased a few of these instead of the IEP

Nice principle, but IEP has to fit within our existing loading gauge, rather than HS2 which can be a fresh start gauge-wise.

 

[asylumxl]

Is America going to start building trains for their HSLs which don't exist yet?

 

[jopsuk]

No, but this will positioning so that if and when the lines do start getting built GE are in a good position to supply stock- perhaps a better position than the European and Japanese manufacturers.

it'll also be much more complicated than that, with the real focus being giving GE greater access to China.

 

[upnorth71]

it'll also be much more complicated than that, with the real focus being giving GE greater access to China.

This is the main intention I believe. $50 million is not a great deal of money, considering the pricetag of a single HSR trainset runs from 20~40 million dollars.

 

[Broken Viking]

Newest design of Chinese Bullet train, CSR's CRH380A, CNR & Siemens's CRH380B, on display at the 7th World Congress on High Speed Rail.

Those trains look very nice...But unless they fit slightly longer power cords to them, I can't see them getting very far! Maybe they should have a look at our own "OHLE" system for supplying power to those trains?

That said, I recall the following bit of East Coast gen that appeared in an issue of Viz a few years ago...
"...British Rail's new Advanced Passenger Train is designed to tilt to one side, making it easier for the elderly and disabled to get on and off at stations. In the near future, special longer wires will allow electric trains to travel all the way from London to Edinburgh without the plug coming out..."