In Private company seeks exclusive rights for high-speed rail, Post Bulletin political reporter Heather Carlson writes that the business plan for the North American High Speed Rail Group claims that the project will be the first to bring Chinese high speed rail (HSR) technology to America.
However, recent reports suggest that California's HSR project may leave that station first.
Reuters' reporters Robin Respaut and Rory Carroll tell all in China may have edge in race to build California's bullet train.
The business plan claim
Carlson reports in Private company seeks exclusive rights for high-speed rail:
The North American High Speed Rail Group is seeking MnDOT Commissioner Charlie Zelle's approval for exclusive negotiating rights for two years for portions of I-494, Minnesota Highway 55, U.S. 52, U.S. 63 and Interstate-90, according to documents obtained by the Post-Bulletin from MnDOT under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
The company estimates the project would cost $4.2 billion to build. A sizable amount of that money — $1.4 billion — would come from Chinese investors, according to the documents. North American High Speed Rail Group Chairman Joseph Wang formerly worked for China's Ministry of Commerce. The company's business plan states the Minnesota rail project would be "the first in the U.S. to leverage a relationship with China in the (high-speed rail) market."
That must be news to the Chinese. Robin Respaut and Rory Carroll report in China may have edge in race to build California's bullet train:
Chinese state firms are poised to be strong contenders in the race to make high-speed trains that will sprint between Los Angeles and San Francisco, part of a $68 billion project to bring the service to the United States for the first time.
While "bullet train" manufacturers from Germany, Japan, South Korea, and France are expected to be among those jockeying for the estimated $1 billion train contract, China’s ability to offer low prices and hefty financing appear to make it the one to beat, say lobbyists and industry insiders.
Lacking experience in the technology, California must turn to foreign firms to build the trains – albeit domestically and with American workers - setting off a geopolitical race to grab a foothold in the nascent U.S. high-speed rail industry. . . .
. . . a Chinese bid with generous financing attached could prove hard to resist for California’s government, which has so far secured only a fraction of the total funding needed for a project that would see trains speeding at over 200 mph (322 kph) to connect the state’s biggest cities in under three hours.
“They are the 900-pound guerilla," said Rod Diridon, former board chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), the state government agency tasked with issuing the bid and selecting a manufacturer. "They have huge advantages, because they have so much funding.”
After building the world’s longest high-speed train network in less than a decade, China has made exports of the technology a priority, pushing to build thousands of kilometers of track in countries such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
Its top leaders rarely make a foreign trip without touting the industry.
State-owned locomotive makers China CSR Corp and China CNR Corp last December announced plans to merge in a $32 billion deal, creating a formidable global competitor backed by generous public financing.
CNR Tangshan Railway, a unit of CNR, and CSR last October made an official expression of interest in supplying the trains to California, and are now expected to launch a joint bid.
And the California project isn't just a gleam in an investment group's eye, since track is already being laid:
The United States lags far behind Europe and Asia in high-speed rail. President Barack Obama planned to make high-speed rail his signature transportation accomplishment but most of the country’s dozen or so projects have struggled to gain traction.
California is the farthest along, although funding remains a major hurdle, and the 520-mile (837-km) long Los Angeles to San Francisco route isn't projected to open until 2029. Construction on the rail line began last year near the middle of the route in Fresno, a city in the state’s Central Valley.
Only about $13.2 billion of the estimated $68 billion has been raised, plus a pledge of cap-and-trade proceeds - funds paid by companies to offset carbon emissions.
CHSRA, which will issue details of the bid for an initial 16 trains later this year, could consider financing in addition to technology and price when it selects a train maker in 2016.
Somehow, we suspect that the Minneapolis-to-Rochester project isn't going to beat California to the punch--since the Chinese are already courting the voter-approved builders on the West Coast.
We'll have more on the Chinese connection in a coming post.
Photo: An artist's vision for the earlier iteration of the zip rail.
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