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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2010
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But in a lengthy interview with Zheng Jian, the chief planner
and director of high-speed rail for the Ministry of Railways,
in Beijing, the
Times
’s Mr Bradsher was told repeatedly that
any Chinese bid would comply with all American laws and
regulations. The framework agreement between the ministry
and General Electric calls for the licensing of Chinese
technology to GE, a world leader in diesel locomotives
but without much experience with electric locomotives for
very high speeds. The US company told Mr Bradsher that
at least 80% of the components of any locomotives and
electronic train control gear are to come from American
suppliers. China would supply project engineers and up to
20% of the components. Final assembly would be done in
the United States.
California is looking to spend $43 billion to build a
❖
460-mile rail route from San Francisco to Los Angeles
and on to Anaheim that would open in 2020. In January
the authority was awarded $2.25 billion in federal
economic stimulus money for the project. Plans call for
$10 billion to $12 billion in private financing, much of
which could be provided by China, with US government,
state, and local jurisdictions providing the rest.
Presuming the Chinese participation materialises, what
might Californians expect? Mr Zheng of the Chinese
railway ministry told the
Times
that a high-speed rail
link between Beijing and Shanghai will be finished by
the end of 2011 or early in 2012. It will cut the ten-hour
journey down to four hours. By comparison, travel by
rail over a similar distance – from New York to Atlanta,
say, or to Chicago – takes 18 to 19 hours. And the
longer-haul passenger trains must share tracks with
freight trains and commuter trains. “We [Chinese] are the
most advanced in many fields,” Mr Zheng said. “And we
are willing to share with the United States.”
Manufacturing
In California and nationwide,
‘We need to make things again’
Andrew S Ross, who writes “The Bottom Line” business
column in the
San Francisco
Chronicle,
recently devoted it
to a public-private initiative that he believes may prefigure
the restoration of manufacturing not only in the Bay Area
but also in the US as a whole.
It centred on the effort to identify prospective uses for a
380-acre, 5 million-square-foot facility in Fremont, California,
formerly occupied by New United Motor Manufacturing Inc,
now defunct. But the broader subject was the revival of
industry in the state and in the nation. (“More Manufacturing
Best for Nummi Site, Nation,” 18
th
April)
Concern for both aspects was evident among federal and
local officials and business leaders who gathered in San
Francisco in early April to consider how to bring back
the thousands of industrial jobs lost as a result of the
closure. Ro Khanna, a deputy assistant secretary in the
US Commerce Department and, according to Mr Ross,
“a key Obama point man on the jobs-and-exports front,”
expressed his strong view that the area needs to be a leader
in new manufacturing and in creating manufacturing jobs.