BIZCHINA> From the Watchdog
Maglev trains not a national option
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-30 08:38

The bullet trains that have been running at 200 kph since the sixth railway speedup on April 18 rely on French and Japanese technology.

However, domestic manufacturers have built at least 70 percent of the country's high-speed trains. In addition, the country has built on the available technologies to develop even faster trains.

"A Chinese-designed 300-kph bullet train will roll off the line at the end of this year. It will be used on theBeijing-Tianjinpassenger rail line next year," said Jiang Jing, chairman of the board of CSR Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co Ltd in Qingdao,ShandongProvince.

He said at a press conference in Beijing on Sunday that his company would provide 10 of the new bullet trains for the Beijing-Tianjin line, which will open to traffic next year. The route is expected to cut the one-hour travel time in half.

Zhang Shuguang, director of the Railways Ministry's transport bureau, said the Chinese-designed train would lead the development of the country's high-speed passenger transport.

"(The train) will be used not only on the Beijing-Tianjin route, but also on the Wuhan-Guangzhou and Beijing-Shanghai routes," Zhang said.

Trains made by Tangshan Locomotive Factory under CNR Changchun Railway Vehicle Co Ltd will also ply the new high-speed routes. The company's trains use technology from Siemens.


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