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Report: Japanese consortium to bid for high-speed rail project in California

The Nikkei reports that East Japan Railway Co. will team up with other Japanese firms, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Sumitomo Corp., Nippon Sharyo Ltd., Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. in bidding for a high-speed railway project in California.

The group will inform the California state government of its intention to participate in the project by March 16. California’s plan involves mixing existing rail lines and those for high-speed trains, so JR East will apply the technology of the so-called mini-bullet train that can run on both regular and high-speed rail lines. The technology is in use on the company’s Yamagata bullet train line.

Central Japan Railway Co., meanwhile, has formed a basic agreement with US construction engineering firm Fluor Corp. and the US arm of major UK builder Balfour Beatty Plc in a high-speed railway project in Texas. Eleven Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi Corp., Toshiba Corp. and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, have decided to cooperate with JR Tokai.

Comments

HarveyD

Maybe, 20,000 Chinese could do a good (better) job one more time. They have acquired the experience and knowhow that we do not have. They could certainly do it much faster.

Lad

This is a job for Boeing, GE, all American companies. We need jobs people...stop with this global economy stuff. Do what they do, steal their technology then build it better. Surely we can build tracks and electric trains...if we can't, God help us!

Jer

This is interesting. I like the idea that foreign firms are more keen on investing in larger 'risky' infrastructure projects. Perhaps they could take on some of the management risk. Several toll roads have become excellent congestion lighteners that foreign firms have invested to build, maintain, and manage - at quite a profit and with the upfront capital and risk-management local firms and city budgets are unwilling to. This takes a lot of the heat off of 'transparent' gov't projects that always get taken advantage of by ruthless developers and constructors - witness the overages and delays.

HarveyD

Sorry, like for many other products (i.e cameras, HDTVs, phones, cells, PCs, tablets, toys, etc), high speed e-train and subway units are no longer designed and built in USA. Patent rights are held by firms in other countries such as France, Germany, Japan, Canada, China etc.

GE may be the exception with regards to locomotives/trains. It could certainly build high speed e-trains under license.

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