BEIJING: China's railway industry will open to private investment on an unprecedented scale, according to a document issued this weekend by the Ministry of Railways, which is struggling with mounting debts and a corruption scandal while attempting to resolve the country's infrastructure bottlenecks.

Private investors will be encouraged to bid for contracts, subsidiaries will be allowed to list shares, and pension funds welcomed to invest in railway companies, the ministry said in a policy document issued late Friday.

Here's a piece of good news: passengers can enjoy discounts when buying business class tickets and premium seats on high-speed trains operating on two lines in East China. The Shanghai Railway Bureau says it's a marketing strategy aimed at attracting more passengers. Does it mean that railway departments will adopt a floating pricing system on some high speed trains?

Business class tickets on high-speed trains on the Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou lines will be reduced by 30 percent between May 18 and June 20. Tickets for premium seats on the two lines over the same period will be cut by 10 percent.

That means a saving of 130 yuan on a business class ticket from Shanghai to Nanjing, and 30 yuan on a premium seat on the same route. The discount applies to nearly 130 trains.

Although all passengers interviewed say it's good to have discounted train tickets, most say they will still choose second class seats, as the discount business class and premium seats are still much more expensive.

"The premium seat is not my option, even at a discounted price, because it's still more economic to buy the second class seat."

"If the discount price is still much more expensive than the second class seat, I would still choose the second class seat, because it's still comfortable there."

"It's unnecessary to buy a premium seat, because it's only about 50 minutes' ride, and it's common to have to stand for an hour on the subway in Shanghai."

Industry insiders believe that the discounted tickets are a marketing strategy to attract more passengers. But Qiu Baochang, a lawyer, says that the policy will produce little effect because business class and premium seats account for only two percent of a high-speed train's total capacity.

"Discounting prices is a positive sign, and shows that ticket prices high speed trains are not fixed, but I think that the number of discounted tickets is far from enough. What's more, the discounts could be increased."

China's railway industry is enduring hard times, with intercity bus providers and airlines taking more and more of the long-distance domestic travel market. Passengers who choose long distance buses instead of high speed railway often argue the former is more convenient. Mr. Chen is one of them.

"My workplace is near to the long distance bus station. The journey is almost the same, considering the time I spend on the subway to get to the railway station."

It is of little surprise that passengers prioritize convenience when considering transport options. Travel experts suggest that the railway department establish a reasonable pricing system in order to maintain competitiveness. Qiu Baochang believes that China's rail sector should learn from the success of other travel providers.

"I think the railway departments can learn from the public transport in Beijing. All people get the discount after a public hearing was held on the pricing mechanism. They could also learn from airline companies who offer discounted tickets during slow season. The discount shouldn't be a fixed 20 or 30 percent. They should be variable, like 50 percent off, or even less."

Recently, the Ministry of Railways has announced that bids for railway contracts in China are going to be open to local markets, indicating that the industry has begun to adopt market principles. Experts have said it's a good step forward, but that the ministry needs to speed up the process, just as it speeds up trains.
 

China doesn’t insist on construction of a railroad across Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, the Chinese Ambassador Wang Kayven told a news conference today.

According him, this project will allow Kyrgyzstan to leave a blind alley and will promote economic advance. “This is an important project. There are various opinions. They say the railroad will further illegal migration and Chinese expansion. Let me go back to history. Why did such idea appear? In 1996, when China began construction of railroad in the south, Bishkek and Tashkent decided to join this project. It was offered to construct two routes in Kyrgyzstan – the northern and the southern. They chose the first. They made a draft feasibility study. Currently, our China Road Company is drawing up a detailed feasibility study at its expense. It will clear up preliminary cost sheet,” said Wang Kayven.

“We have two unsolved questions. The first is width of a rut. Kyrgyzstan adheres a Soviet standard while China – international one. This is a technical matter. The second is investment, who will pour money into. We have a lot of options and one of them is Chinese soft loans. Our government stands ready to issue them. But we need guarantees. This is people’s money and we cannot allot it for any particular reason. But Kyrgyzstan doesn’t have quota to take loans against national security,” said the Ambassador.

“Kyrgyzstan offered also to invest resources in the project. Now the Kyrgyz Government stated clearly that this option is unsuitable. Therefore we won’t consider it. Not long ago experts had a meeting. There were two options: concession or organization of joined venture. China considers both. This railroad is very profitable. Commodities’ flow is intense. China has two corridors, both are overloaded,” Wang Kayven explained.

“We don’t insist on construction. All international projects have to be based on mutual profit. This is good project. I am not an economist but you know very well about intense trade relations between Central Asia and Europe,” Wang Kayven stressed. 

May 24 – China’s Ministry of Rail has released plans to permit private investment into the country’s rail sector on a massive scale. The Ministry is struggling with huge debts, corruption issues and a series of high profile accidents, and is at the same time under pressure to expand China’s rail network and investment. Private investors will be encouraged to bid for contracts, establish subsidiaries that may list on stock markets, and permit pension funds to invest in rail as an investment, the Ministry said in a policy document released last Friday.
The announcement follows last Fall’s annual parliamentary sessions that rail would be one of seven key industries that would be opened to the private sector for the first time. China suffers from bottlenecks in its rail track system, insufficient capacity, overcrowding, and high operating costs. The Ministry lost US$1.1 billion in Q1 this year, and has debts of some US$384 billion in total. As a consequence, several high profile plans – such as the much-touted national high speed rail network, and overseas investments such as the Chinese funded rail line from Xinjiang to Mecca, have stalled.

However, the policy note did not elaborate as to whether foreign investors will be allowed to participate in the privatization scheme. Companies such as Alstom, Bombardier, GE and Kawasaki all have significant investments in rail in China, but to date have been restricted to the provision of components. International businesses have complained concerning the awarding of tenders in the sector, which almost always see projects secured by Chinese contractors. Whether the market truly opens and obtains external funding and expertise is a matter of some sensitivity for China. However, questions over its hand being forced by the appalling management of its rail system to date, or whether the policy document is just another way of swirling money around internally, remains to be seen. 

A three-way strategic joint development agreement has been made between three Chinese companies that will see solar technology installed throughout the country’s public railway infrastructure.

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a developer of state-of-the-art, flexible, thin-film photovoltaic modules, announced yesterday it has entered into a three-way strategic joint development agreement with Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation of China.

Radiant has been responsible for installing the roofing component on multiple railway station projects throughout China and is a natural choice to help retrofit existing railway stations with solar technology, and to help in new installations. TSDI, on the other hand, has designed over 50, 000 kilometres of railways throughout China, including the country’s first high-speed railway and first heavy-haul railway. The company also designed the large-scale multi-modal transport hub, the Beijing South Railway Station.

The total volume of solar installation on Chinese public infrastructure is expected to reach 800 MW over the next five years. System design and engineering development will take place soon, with initial project installations to begin in 2013.

“We are honoured to be involved with TSDI through this very important partnership, which will promote Ascent Solar’s transformational technology in a high-profile sector of China’s public infrastructure. This year, we look forward to working closely with TSDI and Radiant to design and develop systems to be installed beginning in 2013,” stated Victor Lee, Ascent Solar President and CEO.

Winston Xu, Founder of Shenzhen Radiant Enterprise Co., Ltd. and Ascent Solar Board Member, said “China’s state-of-the-art railway system is one of the largest and fastest growing in the world. Ascent Solar and Radiant Group feel privileged to work with TSDI towards the goal of incorporating green, renewable energy with this important piece of China’s infrastructure." 

After two years of competing aggressively with the nation’s growing high-speed rail network, Chinese airlines are beginning to adopt a different approach: 'if you can't beat them, join them'. Mutually beneficial solutions are emerging in the form of air-rail codeshare agreements that could pave the way for foreign airlines to also tap into China's vast interior even with a single gateway. China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines are taking the lead, with the recent agreement between China Eastern and the Shanghai Railway Bureau and between Hainan Airlines and Yuehai Railway.

The moves are changing the relationship between airlines and rail, following a model successfully introduced in the European market. Using rail operations as an alternative to some short-haul feeder services will enable airlines to concentrate on longer routes (including international sectors), which is a key pillar of China’s aviation policy, while also enabling airlines to enhance their feeder traffic rather than losing this market to rail operators altogether. Direct rail links also increase airport (and airline) catchment areas for passengers that can allow them to be more competitive.

The global use of air-rail intermodal agreements has expanded in recent decades, mostly in Europe. These agreements offer a number of potential advantages for airlines, rail operators, intermodal airports and consumers and the arrangements generally enjoy regulatory support. Unlike cooperative agreements and alliances between airlines, which have attracted significant antitrust scrutiny, there has to date been no opposition by competition authorities in examining the competitive effects of intermodal agreements.

Airports, especially intermodal airports, are key to the interface between the two transportation industries. More than 130 airports around the world now have a direct link to a rail network or to a high-speed rail network, with the large number of airports in China currently under construction being developed with suitable inter-model transportation hubs to support this model. These rail links allow passengers to substitute short-haul air services for trains for some segments of their journey, and allow airports to better manage slot capacities when facing congestion, a key concern in many of China’s larger hubs.  

China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Railway Bureau commenced operations of air-rail combined services on 05-May-2012 from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, marking China’s first air-rail combined service. The service allows passengers to transfer between domestic or international services and train operations with a single ticket.

The air-railway combination among four cities (Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou and Ningbo) and two airports (Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and Shanghai Pudong Airport) will be realised first while links from China Eastern's flights in three provinces and one city (Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang Provinces and Shanghai) under the Shanghai Railway Bureau will be "gradually realised". "The joint ticket price is about half of the total cost of a flight and railway tickets," China Eastern Airlines senior manager marketing Zhang Chi said.

The Shanghai Railway Bureau operates 22 routes per day between Shanghai and the four neighbouring cities to link with around 900 daily China Eastern flights. China Eastern said more railway routes linking Shanghai's neighbouring provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui will be added to the joint service soon, which will result in reduced dwell times for passengers.

Hainan Airlines launched a programme with Yuehai Railway Co, which runs the high-speed rail between Haikou and Sanya in Hainan province. Passengers can buy high-speed rail tickets from Haikou to Sanya when booking tickets on any Hainan Airlines flight to Haikou. The airline will eventually sell tickets to other stops on the high-speed rail route. The rail fares will be the same as those offered directly by railways.

Hainan Airlines deputy GM and sales Yuan Huifang said joint ticketing can help both sides get more passengers. It is a way for airlines to profit from the HSR system, which has had a negative impact on airline bottom-lines.  "High-speed rail services heavily affect the business of flights of less than 500km. But we want to find a way to cooperate with rail systems,” he said.

Hainan Airlines manager for product development Wang Yue however noted the process is not without its challenges, especially given the infancy of the system. Hainan Airlines took almost one year to prepare for the programme, with the two parties facing challenges in combining two different ticketing systems. Challenges have also been faced in linking up transfers. For that reason, Hainan Airlines will promote the programme more heavily in international destinations rather than adding more domestic cities, Ms Wang said. However, she noted that new airport development is increasing focused on inter-modal connectivity. "I believe more railway stations and airports will be built together for joint operations," he added.
 

High-speed rail is rapidly becoming a pillar of China’s transportation network. Local airlines that have prospered through years of strong demand growth and a lack of effective ground transport alternatives are now being challenged by this new form of competition, which is also heavily supported and promoted by the government. China's high-speed rail service has already had an adverse effect on airlines' domestic business, particularly on sectors of less than 500km.

At more than 8300km, the burgeoning high-speed rail network was already the world’s most extensive by the end of 2010, with as much of 3500km of new high-speed rail lines to be constructed in 2012. By 2015, China’s high-speed rail network will span 25,000km. The four main north-south routes, including between Beijing and Guangzhou, will be completed in 2012, according to People’s Daily, meaning further competition is expected with the domestic air travel network in 2013 and onwards.

Some estimates put the loss in revenue for China’s aviation industry from the HSR, from reduced traffic and price pressure, at up to 3-4% of total revenues. CAAC director general Li Jiaxiang has said some 50% of flights less than 500km in length and about 20% of flights between 800km and 1000km could become unprofitable as a result of HSR competition. Sectors above 1500km are not likely to be threatened.

Meanwhile, the five airports in China’s Pearl River Delta region met in May-2012 and forecast the development of the Pearl River Delta high-speed rail network will take away four million air passengers from airlines between 2011 and 2015. Guangdong Provincial Airport Group chairman Lu Yesheng, following the opening of the Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR link in 2009, stated the number of services between the two cities declined by 80%. Shenzhen Airport estimates HSR has reduced passenger numbers by up to 600,000 p/a.

Further adding to the airlines’ woes is that the HSR routes are also some of the most profitable for China’s airlines, such as the Beijing-Shanghai sector, which witnessed the implementation of a USD33 billion HSR link in Jun-2011. All three of the major state-owned airlines have cited high-speed rail as a major factor affecting their load factors and earnings and are now seeking a way forward.

The leader in the field of rail-speed cooperation is Deutsche Bahn. With its Rail&Fly product, which acts an an interline agreement of sorts between Deutsche Bahn and its airline partners, the rail provides operates codeshares with over 70 airlines. It offers rail services from/to 16 airports (Basel, Berlin-Sch?nefeld, Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Dortmund, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Leipzig-Halle, K?ln-Bonn, München, Münster-Osnabrück, Nürnberg and Stuttgart to/from the entire DB rail network, covering approximately 34,000km of track and over 500 routes. 

Mongolia's national transition from a communist regime to a democratic, free market state has been a rocky one.

The loss of Soviet support following the collapse of the Soviet Union was an economic and demographic catastrophe for Mongolia.

As recently as 2008, a third of Mongolians lived below the poverty line. Mongolian democracy is a violent, murky business even today and dominated by successors to the Mongolian Communist Party.

Recently, the ex-president of Mongolia, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, was arrested on corruption charges and freed on bail after he embarked on a hunger strike that attracted the concern of Western governments and activists.

His arrest was widely viewed as part of a political vendetta by current President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, who himself faces accusations that he vaulted into the presidency by orchestrating a riot protesting Enkhbayar's alleged vote fraud in 2008.

Despite democracy, despite free markets, what has kept Mongolia from recapitulating the experience of Kosovo as a failure for Western nation-building, indeed what is setting the nation on a pace to become the fastest-growing economy in the world, is the fortuitous existence of a trillion dollars' worth of minerals beneath the under-populated surface of the country, and the insatiable appetite of a gigantic, capital-rich authoritarian neighbor, China, for these treasures.

In Mongolia today, hunger for coal, copper, gold and uranium wealth is at odds with democracy as the demands of international resource giants collide with a stubborn political culture of resource nationalism.

In time for the June 2012 parliamentary elections, Mongolia's grand khural is expected to pass a law subjecting the purchase by "state-owned entities" of controlling interest in strategic Mongolian mining enterprises to government approval (as well as a host of other key industries).

The immediate provocation for the legislation was the sale by a Canadian company, Ivanhoe Resources, of its controlling interest in SouthGobi, an operator of coal mines in Mongolia, to a Chinese resource giant, the Aluminum Company of China, known as Chalco.

The legislation overtly targets China. Vice Finance Minister Ganhuyag Chuluun Hutagt told Bloomberg that the country needed new investment laws to diversity its exports to countries other than China, which consumes a lion's share of Mongolia's coal and copper:
We don't want to be faced with one sovereign ... Our struggle to get political freedom was a long one and we cherish that. We will not let foreign government-owned entities control strategic assets in Mongolia.
This is not an unambiguous win for non-Chinese international resource companies.

After all, there are two ways to make money from ownership of a mining concession. One is to engage in the arduous, expensive, long-term and risky enterprise of operating the mine. Another is to sell it.

And the people who are willing to pay top dollar for a mine are the people who are already buying the product and have a powerful economic incentive for making a go of it ... like the Chinese.

So the Mongolian government's involvement in strategic industries can be looked at in two different ways.

On the one hand, it might hobble a deep-pocketed, overweening competitor to the benefit of other, grateful players; on the other hand, it might be seen as increasing the risk and diminishing the liquidity of investments in the so-called strategic industries, shaving precious points off the value of the assets, be they hard rock or financial paper.

Unsurprisingly, the investment community, which is politely slavering at the prospect of profitable deal flows from Mongolian mining initial public offerings (IPOs) and mergers and acquisitions, is not amused by the strategic industry law.

Dale Choi, of the pre-eminent Mongolia resource play investment firm Frontier Securities, told Bloomberg:
Investors don't like it when the rules of the game are changed after the game has started, and changed often at that ... It would be in the interests of Mongolian people to make a decision based on commercial factors, rather than geopolitical factors. [1]
The uncertain progress of the Tavan Tolgoi project illustrates the headaches facing Mongolia as it tries to reap its resource bonanza on behalf of its citizens even as the remorseless economic logic of globalization demands marginalization of their interests.

Tavan Tolgoi, in the Gobi Desert less than 300 kilometers from the Chinese border, contains over six billion tons of coal reserves, including 1.8 billion tons of coking coal, a premium and profitable item used in the iron and steel industry.

Nothing about Tavan Tolgoi is simple, except perhaps the physical process of digging the coal out of the ground (albeit with the usual environmental and cultural trauma).

Chalco is already buying all the coking coal that Tavan Tolgoi produces. But it has to truck the coal to China since the Mongolian government can't bring itself to approve the 300-kilometer railway that would connect to the Chinese rail system, thereby making China the only feasible buyer.

Mongolia's current anxiety about Chinese domination of its international trade channels (China accounts for perhaps 80% of Mongolia's export and import trade) is buttressed by a significant element of historical xenophobia.

The Mongolian republic's foundation myth dates back to the eviction of a detested Manchu viceroy in 1911 and China's political and ethnic domination of the parts of Mongolia it did hang on to - now the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region - is an affront and warning to Mongolian nationalists.

Standing up to Chinese economic penetration is, therefore, good politics and probably smart geopolitics. Economics, however, is another matter.

Instead of simply linking Tavan Tolgai to the Chinese railway system, Mongolia is trying to cobble together a coalition of Chinese, Russian, South Korean and Japanese concerns that will develop part of the mine jointly with Mongolia and, most importantly, build an integrated transport network 5,000 kilometers from Tavan Tolgoi to the Russian export facility at the port of Vanino.

The objective is for Tavan Tolgoi to will find a home in Japanese and South Korean steel mills, and to get to those mills through Russia without being captive to the necessity of moving the product overseas through the shortest and most economical route-through Chinese railroads and ports.

Total projected cost: US$5.2 billion. Additional transport cost per ton: perhaps $100.

To bootstrap this diversification extravaganza, the Mongolian government already requires that Chalco resell 30% of its current Tavan Tolgoi purchases to three Japanese and South Korean trading companies. Reportedly, this portion is delivered to Chinese ports for export. Somebody is enjoying a windfall, as Mongolian coking coal is apparently selling for a third of the price of the Australian product currently fueling Japanese and South Korean steel mills.

Tavan Tolgoi itself is divided into east and west zones, East Tsankhi and West Tsankhi, each with its own challenges.

West Tsankhi is the joint development mega project based on foreign operators investing in and operating the mine and paying royalties to the mine owner, state-run Erdennes Tavan Tolgoi.

This is the piece wrapped up in the multi-national/railroad to Russia consortium idea which, it appears, only the Mongolian government loves.

The Mongolian government announced a jumbled up award to an unwieldy collection of companies but has been unable to work out the deal it is trying to impose - which probably requires a hefty up-front payment that somehow has to be divvied up between the disparate partners, each of whom has different roles, profit expectations, and willingness and capacity to pay.

In a recent display of bravado, the Mongolian government stated it might go it alone on West Tsankhi, while failing to address the question of how it would come up with billions of dollars needed to fund development.

East Tsankhi is the part of the mine that is already selling its output to China under the ownership and operation of state-owned Erdennes Tavan Tolgoi. Per government plan, Erdennes TT will go public in a multi-billion dollar global IPO that will sell a 30% share to fund the further development and exploitation of East Tsankhi by some combination of foreign and domestic construction, equipment, and service vendors.

After months of effort, undertaken by Baosight, the Shanghai Metro Line 12 three basic systems basic design have been fully completed. In the recently held first project design contact meeting, it passes rigorous examination from owners and engineering design experts participating in the construction.

Line 12 is the rail transit in building in Shanghai with largest investment and longest expanse across regions currently. It starts from Minhang District Qishen Station in west and ends in Pudong New Area Gimhae Road Station in the east, with more than 40 kilometers in length. When it is completed, it will become the longitudinal southwest northeast axial trunk in downtown.

To apply the concept of green energy from the beginning, the owners raise construction requirements in the design of the monitoring system for the task unit, that they should build the first real operation-oriented energy-saving demonstration line, science and technology demonstration line and intelligent stations.

Line 12 is also Baosight first Shanghai rail transit project undertaking. Since it wins three monitoring systems project bidding in November 2011, Baosight deploys key personnel and carries out joint research targeted at difficulties such as numerous transfer stations on Line 12, short system design time and complex interface.

With the collaboration among owners, the two sides design institutes and supervision, three monitoring systems design task is completed with quality and efficiency. This shows Baosight's powerful comprehensive strength in the large rail traffic monitoring system integration technology and it wins the owner' praise.

from the Investment and Commercial Bank of China for rehabilitation works on the Eastern Rail lines; Nsawam to Accra and Achimota to Tema.

Another $1.95 billion is being sought from the Exim Bank of China for rehabilitation works on the Nsawam to Kumasi rail lines.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Tuesday, Mr. Emmanuel Opoku, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), noted that $500 million dollars would be taken from the $3 billion Chinese loan facility for rehabilitation works on the Western Rail line.

He noted that currently, all three rail lines including the Western, Central and Eastern; were not in good shape due to bad tracks.

“Rehabilitation works would include mainly the tracks, bridges, signals and telecommunication systems,” he said.

Mr Opoku said as part of the rehabilitation works, all the gauges (distance between the two sleepers) would be upgraded from 10.67 millimetres to 14.35 millimetres to enable it to link Ghana to other ECOWAS countries.

“The use of the standard gauge would enable us increase the speed of our trains from 57 kilometres per hour to about 180 kilometres per hour,” he added.

Mr Opoku said government had instituted plans to extend the railway service to the Northern sector and the Volta Region as well.

“Currently, only the southern sector of the country makes use of the rail services due to some socio-economic importance."

He said the Western Line is linked to the Takoradi Port while the Eastern Line is linked to the Tema Port with the Central Line being linked to both Takoradi and Tema Ports.

Mr. Opoku said, GRDA was established in 2009 to regulate activities on the rail sector, while the Ghana Railway Company Limited was to see to the operation of the train services.

“One of our mandates was to work on how we could get the private sector to invest in the nation’s rail sector,” he said.

Mr. Opoku said GRDA had put in place measures to ensure that all coaches that would be imported into the country would be able to take only a specific number of passengers to avoid overloading.

He said the Authority had taken into consideration issues raised by the disability associations on the need for them to import coaches, which were disability –friendly, and would work to ensure that all rehabilitation works on importation of new coaches were to their assertion.

Mr. Opoku said rehabilitation works on the rail lines would reduce traffic on the roads and provide safe means of transport for those who use them.

“It is environmentally friendly and would help reduce pollution of the environment,” he added.

Recently, the low-side side-wall gondola vehicles designed and manufactured by China South Locomotive Yangtze were successfully delivered to Namibia ahead of schedule.

The project started on October 8, 2011. Through five stages of product design, technical preparation, prototype trial, mass production and delivery, the project was successfully checked and accepted on May 3, 2012, ahead of the contract schedule. Namibian Rail was satisfied with the product quality.

Namibia low-side side-wall gondola vehicle is the first truck produced by Wuhan Division of CSR Yangtze River exported to African markets, and another move for CSR Yangtze to expand overseas railway truck market. Therefore, after winning the order, Wuhan Division leadership of CSR Yangtze River attached great importance, and made the decision to start mass production of Namibia vehicles in advance due to the arduous tasks of national railway cars and export cars in the first quarter of this year. The company also set up an internal supervision team to strictly control the quality.

Recently, CSR Times New Material affiliated to CSR Zhuzhou signed a 50-million order of wind turbine elastic components with China Guodian United Power Technology Co., Ltd.

In 2012, in the slowed market background, New Material adheres to the principle of “leading in projects”, stood out from many competitors against their 15% lower price, 3-month longer payback period and other unfavorable factors with its strong technical strength and a competitive and dauntless marketing team, and successfully won the 50-million order of Guodian United Power. CSR Zhuzhou Times New Material will supply United Power Technology with elastic components for three models of 1.5MW, 2.0MW, and 3.0MW gearboxes, generators, and nacelles. The component is widely used in wind turbines to provide a flexible connection for wind generator set transmission chain and its key components, and can reduce the impact load of the connections, vibration, and the structural noise, and improve operation safety and reliability of the generator set.

CSR Zhuzhou Times New Material began to get involved in the wind power industry in 2003. With an advanced scientific research platform, Times New Material played its advantage in new materials application, and successfully developed elastic components for wind generator sets. Moreover, CSR Times New Materials developed elastic components for 1.0MW, 1.25MW, 1.5MW, 2.0MW, 2.5MW, 3.0MW, 3.6MW and nearly 20 kinds of domestic advanced high-power wind generator set sets. Its technology covers doubly-fed, direct-driving, semi-direct driving and various fixed-blade constant-speed and variable-blade variable-speed turbine sets. The company puts the technology to industrial production, and provides more than 200 kinds of products in six categories, namely, the generator elastic support, gear box elastic support, coupling elastic component, nacelle elastic support, and control cabinet vibration reduction support.

Currently, CSR Times New Materials has made remarkable achievements in the wind turbine elastic support products, and has become the largest supplier of elastic support of wind turbines. In the future, Times New Materials will continue leading the domestic industry with its strong technology development capabilities and reliable product quality.

1A metro cars used in Rio, Brazil are made of stainless steel, 6 cars 4M2T grouping one fleet, Max. speed 100 km/h. Technical standard is the same as European first class criteria.
 

This project is 120 different coaches, including 20 first class cars, 30 second cars and luggage, dinning and power cars each 10 sets.