China's Ministry of Railways will start a new round of tender offers this year for its high-speed railways that could be worth up to 40 billion yuan ($6.35 billion), the China Securities Journal reported on Friday, quoting industry sources.

The ministry also plans to procure 86 billion yuan worth of vehicles this year, the sources told the newspaper.

China CNR Corp and China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp Ltd (CSR) , may be the main beneficiaries of the tender offer and could see the new orders impacting results in 2013 and beyond.

Tunnel digging on the first subway to cross the Yangtze River finished on Sunday in the city of Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, and will open to traffic within this year.

The 27.98-km line, the first phase of Wuhan Subway Line II, will link districts of both Wuchang and Hankou, Xiong Zhaohui, deputy chief engineer at China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group, said.

As a key transportation route in Wuhan, the line will handle half of the city's cross-Yangtze traffic flow, easing gridlock on bridges over the longest river in China. It is expected to transport at least 600,000 passengers daily by 2015, Xiong said.

The line costs a total of 14.9 billion yuan ($2.37 billion).

Wuhan lies at the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze and its city proper is divided into three areas by the two rivers.

China's railway investment in infrastructure in the first month of 2012 decreased by 76 percent year-on-year to 8.7 billion yuan, hitting the lowest point since 2009, the Economic Information reported Thursday, citing statistics from the Ministry of Railway (MOR) website.

The railway fixed-asset investment reached 12.2 billion yuan, down 69.6 percent from the same period last year, according to MOR.

Wang Mengshu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told the newspaper that the sudden decrease in railway investment is partly because many construction projects were stopped during the Spring Festival. Many funds were not in place, he added.

At a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao on Wednesday, it was pointed out that private capital was encouraged to enter sectors like the rail industry.

Wang said allowing private capital into railway construction is beneficial as the infrastructure construction of railways needs huge amounts of money. However, good allocation plans and profits must be ensured in order to attract the private capital, he added.

CSR Corp. Ltd., China's largest train manufacturer, said it signed an agreement with a local partner on Tuesday to build a new subway train assembly plant in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

Zhang Jun, vice president of CSR Corp. Ltd., said the plant, based in Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu, involves an investment of 980 million yuan (156 million U.S. dollars).

However, Zhang declined to disclose the stakes two of its subsidiaries and its partner, Chengdu Industry Investment Group Co. Ltd., will hold in the joint venture.

The plant, which initially plans to have an annual production capacity of 200 subway trains, will roll out its first subway train early next year, Zhang said, adding that the subway trains will be supplied to Chengdu and its surrounding cities to cash in on the boom in constructing metro lines seen in many large cities.

Chengdu is expected to have nine metro lines by 2020 with a total length of 336 km, said Bai Gang, vice mayor of Chengdu. The city currently has one subway line in operation, and is expected to open another two in the next four years.

The plant is the first project of CSR Corp. Ltd.'s Chengdu industrial base, which covers others sectors such as new energy, new materials and electric cars.

Last October, CSR Corp. Ltd. signed an agreement with the Chengdu municipal government to build its Chengdu base with an investment of 5 billion yuan.

There's been stops and there has been starts but it appears China's much heralded US$200 billion (150 billion euro) high-speed train network will be charging ahead during 2012 -- and beyond.

The country's Ministry of Railways is now saying 3,500 kilometers of rail line will be opened up for use this year, making the entire service stretch past 10,000km.

This will mean that all of China's planned North-South routes will come into operation, slashing travelling time between some of the country's most popular cities while also offering a cheap transport alternative to locals and to the growing number of tourists who are visiting China each year.

The first of those routes -- connecting Beijing and Shanghai -- opened last June and it will be followed this year by Beijing-Guangzhou (southern route), Beijing-Harbin (northeast) and a route that will connect the coastal centres south of Shanghai.

The preliminary work for the high speed railway between Fuzhou and Pingtan is being carried forward, with hopes to come into operation before the National Day, Oct 1.

The high-speed trains from Fuzhou to Pintan will operate at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

The 87.7 kilometer-long railway is planned to have eight stations and will cross the Haitan Straits. The railway line starts from Fuzhou, passes Gushan, the south station of Fuzhou railway, Changle, Shouzhan, Songxia, and reaches Pingtan Island via the bridge across the Haitan Straits.

The bridge across the Haitan Straits combines the highway and railway. The bridge has two tiers, with a double-line railway on the top and a two-way highway underneath.

The dedicated railway between Hefei, Anhui province and Fuzhou, Fujian province is an important route between Beijing and Fuzhou, connecting central China and south China. With the completion of the high speed rail between Fuzhou and Pintan, which will link with the line between Hefei and Fuzhou, passengers will be able to commute to Beijing from Pingtan.

The high speed railway between Beijing and Guangzhou will be completed by the end of 2012 and the total rail time will be cut to less than 8 hours according to reports from Nanfang Daily.

The newspaper quotes Yang Zhongmin, a senior official with the Ministry of Railways, as saying that the completion of this high speed railway will be a boon to passengers tired of the normal trudge from Beijing to Guangzhou.

The new high speed railway will be parallel with the existing rail between Beijing and Guangzhou, helping to ease transportation pressures and binding the economic zones of the Pearl River Delta, Bohai Bay and cities in central China.

The section from Zhengzhou to Wuhan will be in test run at the end of February and the section between Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou will be tested in June. Also, the travel time from Beijing to Wuhan will be shortened to about 5 hours in total.

Merchants in Guangzhou hail the news and some have already began planning to extend businesses in Henan and Hebei provinces.

"I can get a round trip between Beijing and Guangzhou in a day," said a man surnamed Gao, who works in training and often travels between the two cities. "High speed trains are always on time. At least I will have a fall back plan that doesn't involve planes."

February 20 Reporter He Zongyu China maintained steady and rapid economic and social development in 2011, to which what contributions central enterprises made? All economic indicators of central enterprises hit new highs, how did they achieve that? What is the role of central enterprises in ensuring and improving the people’s livelihood? How will central enterprises cope with severe and complex domestic and overseas economic situation in 2012?

Regarding these widely watched questions, the reporter interviewed Shao Ning, vice chairman of the State-owned Asset Supervision and Administration Commission SASAC.

Reporter: How did central enterprises cope with the complex economic situation and achieve new highs in all economic indicators in 2011?

Shao Ning: In 2011, central enterprises maintained steady and rapid development of production and business operations, achieving operating revenues of 20.2 trillion yuan, up 20.8% year on year, a net profit of 917.33 billion yuan, up 6.4% year on year; and taxes of 1.7 trillion yuan, up 19.7% year on year. By late 2011, central enterprises had achieved total assets of 28 trillion yuan, up 14.9% year on year; and net assets of 10.7 trillion yuan, up 11.4% year on year.

It is not easy to achieve such results amid the complex and difficult macroeconomic situation. Affected by the external economic environment last year, a lot of central enterprises faced difficulties such as capital strain, cost rise, order decline, accounts receivable increase and inventory increase. Improper implementation of the mechanism of coal-electricity price linkage and price inversion of oil products and price led to heavy losses of thermal power, refining business and natural gas imports. Market demands fell in industries such as railway, automobile, water transport, iron and steel, and machinery. Some enterprises were under heavy market pressure.

Central enterprises coped with the severe situation by taking a series of solid and effective measures. Firstly, vigorously developing domestic and overseas markets and maintaining growth by all means. For example, COFCO adjusted its marketing strategy and built a whole industry chain to optimize its product structure. Secondly, strengthening cost reduction and benefit increase, and seeking benefits from management. For example, Xinxing Cathay International Group comprehensively practiced the “mechanism of simulating legal person operation” and the “mechanism of fast linkage of production, supply, sale and use”, thus reducing cost by 2.3%. Enterprises, such as Sinopec, Sinochem and Baosteel, intensified overseas financing to effectively reduce financial cost. Lastly, strengthening risk control to ensure stable operations of enterprises. Central enterprises appropriately compressed investment scale and strictly controlled investment risk according to market changes, thus making the growth of fixed assets investment in the first three quarters 16.7% slower than the growth of the total fixed assets investment of the society. Many central enterprises practically strengthened overseas assets management to effectively reduce overseas investment risk. Through great efforts, central enterprises maintained steady and healthy development, thus effectively supporting the steady and rapid development of the national economy.  

On the afternoon of February 14, Dato’Long See Wool, secretary general of the Ministry of Transport of Malaysia, visited CSR Kuala Lumpur Maintenance Company under CSR Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd. CSR Zhuji for an inspection. 

The secretary general went on board the carriage to experience the intercity bullet train to be delivered to Malaysia, inspected the progress of construction and reconstruction on the overhaul site of the depot, visited the office area of the company, and praised the internationalized design concept of the office area and the high working efficiency of the company.

The management of the company held talks with the delegation headed by the secretary general, briefed the delegation on the company’s business operation, and said the company has been poised to fulfill the maintenance task.

The bullet train is of great importance to improving Malaysia’s traffic conditions, the government attaches great importance to the operation of the train and will pay close attention and offer strong support for the project, the secretary general said.

After the train goes into operation, the company will undertake in-depot maintenance to ensure its safe operation. The management of the company pledged to spare no efforts in maintenance to ensure the safe operation of the train and improve Malaysia’s traffic conditions.

On February 10, 40-odd netizens and train fans, who were sifted out from the online registration, walked into CSR to pay a visit to the high-speed EMU production base. Such an event is a significant attempt: it was the first time for train fans to get close enough to visit CSR and its products in the high-speed EMU birthplace, which would assist all people in having more knowledge about and objectively looking at China HSR instead of appraising the HSR based on merely their own emotions and suppositions. As for CSR, this event is a favorable opportunity, by which CSR can further open its mind and win more trust from the society. Also, CSR can take advantage of this event to hear voices from extensive netizens and train fans, hear their good advices, and correct some one-sided views on HSR in the society through communication and Q & A. 

After this event, train fans had intensive experience and spoke highly of CRS. In his microblog, @Fei Xiang Wang Xiang Li Gang said: “On February 10, I visited CSR Sifang and witnessed the high-speed train’s production process in person, during which I had communications with lots of technicians and deeply knew that China’s mightiness and development should not depend on vacant slogan but hinge on practical work. Maybe we will continue making a detour and incurring problems, but doing work in a down-to-earth manner is always welcome. When seeing those men who were struggling, I paid tribute to them from the bottom of my heart”. @ Shen Tailing posted her words in her microblog: On February 10, train fans in Qingdao were invited to visit CSR, which was a fantastic event. From the perspective of CSR Group’s P. R. strategy, or from the perspective of CSR Group’s proactive contact with grassroots people and train fans, this event enabled more train fans, passengers, media journalists, and ordinary people to keep abreast of the railway traffic engineering’s development and follow-up issues, which is of reference value.” In his online editorial, @ Wang Xiaodong said: “During my visit to CSR, I found two eye-catching points: first, in the model room there were some unique models, and I inferred that they might be used in the next-generation locomotives with higher speed. Second, on the high-speed rolling performance test rig, the train speed was up to 600km/h, which was allegedly the world highest speed”. 

After the visit, netizens had some brand-new knowledge about HSR. In his microblog, @ Star of the Central Plains said: “The HSR industry is of profound influence on China. At least, the HSR can contribute to alteration of China’s energy structure since it consumes the electricity instead of the oil. In the Middle East, the oil is still a hotspot issue. If China gets rid of its high dependence on the oil, U. S. may get anxious! That’s a strategic issue. ” @ I Am Screaming Pig at Night said in his microblog: “Undoubtedly, HSR will benefit our life. From the macroeconomic perspective, HSR will not only facilitate the people’s travel, but also boost development of relevant segments and industries. To have more knowledge about HSR, we should get close to it. We hope that HSR practitioner should have more communications with the public as a way to eliminate the doubts, discuss problems reasonably, and make progress together. ”

Besides, CSR engineers made a deep impression on netizens. @Fei Xiang Wang Xiang Li Gang said in his microblog: “Those men who assume the HSR train production are unsophisticated, ordinary, mild, and down-to-earth. When walking on the street, they are the same as the ordinary people, but they made use of their knowledge to master the world most advanced technologies and produce the high-speed train of strategic significance. However, we did not support or inspire them, but censure them with a hostile attitude. What did they do? They endured all things and only focused on their work! This is China!” @ I Am Screaming Pig At Night said: “I adore the woman at the top left corner of the picture, and she is a chief engineer in charge of the HSR technology. In this industry full of men, she was bound to make more efforts. After being employed by CSR since her graduation from the college, she stayed at the same position for more than 10 years. Due to her persistence, pragmatic attitude, high sense of mission, and humdrum daily life, she has set a true model for those young men who are anxious to achieve quick success and get instant benefits”. @ Shen Tailing said: “I was touched by CSR Technician Team that is young and experienced, and answered my questions in a precise, humorous, logical, and passionate manner. It’s a nice team!”

As the sponsor, we also benefited much from this event. Since the outbreak of the “723 Incident”, China HSR stepped into a quiet development period from previous leap-forward development. In this Spring Festival Travel Rush, many people just experienced the HSR’s convenience and became users of China HSR. However, misunderstandings and doubts over the HSR are still numerous. As a manufacturing enterprise that upholds the pragmatic attitude, CSR is committed to developing products and improving production process. Simultaneously, we should become more open-minded to let the public get close to the enterprise and learn about China HSR, so as to show the modernized enterprise CSR’s high confidence and great bosom. This event is a good attempt and sets a good start. 

Chinese people need a more open-minded HSR, and CSR is by no means the only one that should make efforts. 

In the morning of February 6, 2012, the first batch of metro cars, manufactured by China CNR for line A of Buenos Aires Argentina, delivery ceremony was held in Shanghai China. Vehicles of yellow-grey outside and yellow-green interior are showing the pampas style. These vehicles are expected to be arrived in late April of this year in Buenos Aires Argentina.
 

On November 30 this year, China CNR and Australia FMG signed a $ 46.8187 million worth of 40 tonne axle-load wagon contract.
 To date, CNR has supplied world's advanced level and high-end railway fright wagons for Australia market nearly 7,000 sets.

China will carry out a special campaign to check potential safety problems of high-speed trains this year, the country's work safety supervision authorities said.

The State Administration of Work Safety said in a statement on its website that it will work with the Ministry of Railways to have a safety overhaul.

On July 23, 2011, a high-speed train rammed into a stalled train near the city of Wenzhou in east China, leaving 40 people dead and 172 injured.

The decision of safety overhaul was made in accordance with the instructions given in an investigation report released in December by the State Council after the disastrous high-speed train crash.

The overhaul will cover high-speed railway signaling system, maintenance of trains, lightning-proof designs, employees' training and operating environment, the statement said.

On November 28, 2011, Hong Kong Tramways Limited officially launched the four tram cars with AC transmission system made by China CNR.
 These new transmission equipment of AC motors provide renewable energy to replace old DC motors. Running trams can produce electricity feed back to the grid for using by other trams. The AC control system including AC traction motors, traction inverters,reduction device, filter reactor, monitor device, and so on.

Good news has recently come from Chengdu Wangpai Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. that Hunan CSR Times Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. CSR Times under CSR Zhuzhou Institute Co., Ltd. CSR ZELRI won an order for 14 sets of electric systems, a new one after the order for five 16t electric water sprinklers last year, marking a good start for the company’s system marketing.

According to sources, as a key market for CSR Times’ electric energy-conserving and new energy products, Chengdu has been drawing close attention from the company. Since entering Chengdu’s energy-conserving and new energy vehicle market in 2010, CSR Times has actively sought to optimize and innovate marketing means and strategies, has achieved brilliant results in market promotion, and won an order for 20 range-extended electric-driven hybrid city buses and an order for five special electric vehicles in Chengdu in 2011.