China's railway infrastructure investment is set to reach a new high next year, with an estimated investment value of more than 516 billion yuan ($82.66 billion). Both the investment and operation mileage will exceed those of this year, Chinese media reported.

The expansion of railway construction will be funded by 150 billion yuan of railroading bonds, government's financial support and bank credit capital.

Data from the Ministry of Railways show that the railway infrastructure investment reached 69.77 billion yuan in October, more than triple that of last year.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the investment in railway infrastructure is poised to reach 2.3 trillion yuan and the length of railway lines in service will reach 120,000 kilometers.

China on Monday showcased the world's first alpine high-speed rail line, which threads through the country's three northeastern provinces.

A test train departed from Harbin West Station, located in the capital of Heilongjiang Province, on Monday morning for Dalian, a port city in Liaoning Province.

With a trial speed averaging 300 km per hour, the train completed the 921-kilometer journey in about four hours.

Engineers with the railway project said the rail track built using cutting-edge technology can accommodate temperatures between 40 degrees Celsius below zero and 40 degrees Celsius above freezing. Trains will be able to run at an average of 350 km per hour on the line after safety tests are conducted.

They have adopted the eight-compartment CRH380B train model built by China Northern Railways.

The rail line, featuring 24 stations, is expected to go into normal operation by the end of the year.

The populous northeastern provinces are known as China's key industrial base, and the high-speed rail line is expected to ease the transportation bottleneck in the region.

Harbin West, the line's originating station, has been designed with 10 platforms with a combined dispatched passenger capacity of 7,000 passengers per hour at peak times. 

The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) Monday declared open its railway technology training center mainly set up to train local artisans and technicians on how to manage the Nigerian construction industry.

At the unveiling ceremony of the Idu Training Center, Qi Xiaotian, a member of the top management of the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), said the training scheme is necessary for Nigerian employees with the development and operation of the Nigerian modern railways and urban mass transit rail system in Abuja and Lagos.

He said the training scheme will provide more talents for the local railway management and operation, maintanence and workshops. The CCECC has the responsibility to introduce more technology and technique to lcoal employees for Nigeria's further development in mass transport services, he explained.

The training program, with its pilot phase commencing in Idu located in Nigeria's capital city Abuja, is expected to create a link between government and the masses in a way that the latter will be highly skilled to be absorbable by the construction industry in Nigeria, Honorary President of the Abuja Training School Jonathan Olopade also said at the brief unveiling ceremony.

"We are creating a link between the construction industry and the local technicians and artisans in a way that brings them up to the standard that can match our needs as well as address the structural unemployment concerns of the country," he said further.

Over the years, the Nigerian railway which was a very lucrative transport operator during and immediately after the country's colonial era had gone into extinction. But the new initiative by CCECC and its local collaborators will help bring back the past glory of the Nigerian railway to its place of pride, according to Olopade.

Noting that the training school's objective is to be a major contributor to the net capacity development of master technicians and artisans in the country, the institute's honorary president said the training school will be regarded as one of the major corporate social responsibilities of the CCECC to the Nigerian masses in recent times.

"We are starting off with the Abuja Training School and our intent is that in due time, we will move to Lagos and some other parts of the country," he added.

An the ceremony, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria Deng Boqing said that in the past few years, the CCECC has well established itself in the infrastructural sector in Nigeria and achieved fast growth in the development. According to him, the training school is aimed at cultivation of talents in Africa and Nigeria, which is one of the major tasks for the Chinese companies operating in Africa.

"This opening of the school marks the implementation of targets set by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing in July," Deng noted, adding that he sincerely wished the training program success in the coming years.

CCECC Nigeria Ltd, which provides construction and engineering services in the west African nation, has over 10,000 local staffs who need to be properly trained on how to operate, manage and carry out maintenance in the Nigerian railway sector.

Laos is developing its railway network with a 4 billion U.S. dollar project to link with Vietnam on the sidelines of the Asia Europe Meeting here, local media reported.

The State-run Vientiane Times reported that the 4 billion U.S. dollar contract was signed on Monday.

The project aims to build the first high speed railway link between Laos and Vietnam and will take five years to complete.

Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong and his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Razak witnessed the signing for the electrified double track railway project.

The master concession agreement is between the Laotian government and Giant Consolidated Ltd, a Malaysian company, to develop the 220km track from Savannakhet to Lao Bao, near the Vietnam border.

Once the project is completed Savannakhet Province will have a direct rail link to Lao Bao, at the Laos Vietnam border.

The Laos-Vietnam railway line is part of a planned network linking Southeast Asia and when the entire project is completed it will provide a non-stop connection to Singapore through Thailand and Malaysia into Kunming Province in China.  

Construction work started Saturday on a major high-speed railway in China's western hinterland to promote local economic cooperation and development.

The 643-km-long railway line for passenger transport links Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province to Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The project will be completed in five years with an investment of more than 40 billion yuan (about 6.35 billion U.S. dollars). The travel time between the two cities will be shortened to three hours from 12 hours currently, after the new railway is put into operation.

The line will have 127 km of tunnels to pass through the Qinling Mountains.

China aims to basically complete the construction of a high-speed railway network with a total operating length of more than 40,000 km by the end of 2015. 

New railway line among measures to improve flow of passengers, goods in region

Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region will speed up construction of its transport network in coming years to boost the flow of passengers and goods, a senior regional official said on Thursday.

Construction of a new railway linking Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and Nyingchi prefecture in the region's southeast will start very soon, Padma Choling, chairman of the autonomous region, told a group discussion at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing. 

Passengers take the 100 percent low floor light rail train in Changchun, capital city of northeast China’s Jilin Province, Oct. 19, 2012. The train, the first 100 percent low floor light rail train in China, officially started operation on the light rail lines of Changchun Subway on Friday. “Low floor” light rail trains refer to those trains floors of which are no higher than 40 centimeters than the rails. They are more energy-efficient and convenient, especially for the elder and children.  

China Railway Construction Corp (CRCC) is spending billions on property projects to become a major real estate player.

CRCC and China Railway Group are the two state-owned enterprises that build nearly all of the mainland's railways.

From this year to 2014, CRCC will spend 69.6 billion yuan (HK$85.7 billion) on property projects, more than the 54 billion yuan it will spend on infrastructure, including railways, said the Hong Kong- and Shanghai-listed firm's bond prospectus.

CRCC plans to issue five billion yuan of 270-day bonds, to be used as working capital.

At present, CRCC's property business is very small, said Guotai Junan Securities analyst Gary Wong. It is not among the top 20 Chinese developers, he said.

Last year, the firm's property revenue amounted to 16.95 billion yuan, a mere 3.7 per cent of its total turnover.

Despite the recent increase in the Chinese government's spending on railways, the long-term outlook for the railways sector is uncertain, Wong said.

"CRCC is forced to be a property developer because of weak rail prospects. CRCC wants to find growth, so property investment will be good."

CRCC's bond prospectus said: "The property sector is still under severe austerity measures. In the short term, the volatility in demand and prices will increase, raising the industry's risks.

"But in the long run, China's stable economic growth and urbanisation will create a booming demand in the property market," the company said.

CRCC will benefit from the policy of many local mainland governments to encourage property projects near metro rail stations, similar to Hong Kong's MTR model, said Wong.

The property revenue of the other leading Chinese railways construction firm, China Railway Group, surged 43.4 per cent to 17.14 billion yuan last year.

China’s Ministry of Railways (MOR) announced a new round of bidding for passenger trains on Monday, a procurement that could be worth 3 billion yuan.

In order to reach 2012's budget for fixed-asset investment, China Railway Construction Corporation announced of purchase of 1,200 ordinary passenger carriages for a unit price of approximately 2.5 million yuan. These carriages (named DC600V, the most widely used train in China) are to be procured through open tender.

As the ministry has sought bids for another 2,500 passenger carriages in May, the number of passenger trains reached 3,700 this year, which were flat from the year before.

Just last month, the MOR completed a 6.1 billion yuan bid for 15,000 rail wagons.

China has only two rail equipment makers, China CNR Corporation Limited (601299.SH) and China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation Limited (CSR) (1766.HK, 601766.SH). “As the different division, CSR has an advantage in this tender,” a source from the ministry said.

Last month, Beijing called for increasing efforts to reach the 500 billion yuan ($79.4 billion) railway investment target of this year, as part of its latest moves to boost the slowing economy.

In the first three quarters, the MOR’s fixed-asset investment decreased 13 percent year-on-year to 344.16 billion yuan, which means it has to catch up with the rest of the 31 percent of the annual target in the fourth quarter 

The China Railway 5 Company is under surveillance by the Fiji National Provident Fund for allegedly failing to make superannuation contributions to its local employees.

The Chinese company is contracted by the Water Authority of Fiji to upgrade water and sewerage plants.

FNPF has confirmed that Inspectors from the Fund visited the company’s office following complaints from employees.

A statement says Directors of China Railway 5 have been advised about the process of submission of wages records for its employees.

Chinese Officials at the company office in Domain, Suva could only tell FBC News the company is treating this as a big issue and referred all questions to their General Manager who is away overseas.

FNPF has warned that those who don’t comply will be dealt with according to the law inclusive of court actions and the imposition of penalties.

The Fund is encouraging employers to comply with laws and ensure its employees contributions are paid on time.
 

Wowjoint Entered into New Contract to Service High Speed Rail

During the ninth National University Games of China, which closed on Sept 18 in Tianjin, METRO Cash & Carry, an international leader in self-service wholesale, was chosen as the official food supplier.

"This marks a strong recognition of our efforts in food safety," said Uwe Hoelzer, president of METRO China.

The team from the METRO Tianjin Store was fully committed to supplying food products for the University Games. It supplied high-quality provisions, including meat, seafood, vegetables and dried food to more than 6,300 athletes, coaches and referees.

Throughout the Games, meals for all athletes and coaches were arranged according to unified recipes, standards and sourcing.

Strict standards were applied in food sourcing, detection of residual pesticides on vegetables, food processing, and inspection of the food preparation facilities.

Since the Games were held during the transition from summer to fall, abundant amounts of protein were included in the recipes, including meat, fish and shrimp, which required higher standards for a fresh food supply.

METRO has always been the industry's paragon for food safety management.

Three systems

Its traceability system, unbroken cold chain storage as well as its hazard analysis and critical control points, or HACCP, system were used to strictly control food quality from the aspects of supplier management, logistics and food safety assurance.

These systems have set a reliable control gateway for food safety along the entire supply chain - from field to market to table - ensuring food safety for the Games.

In order to provide safe and high-quality products to its professional customers, METRO introduced the Star Farm Traceability System in 2007, allowing the company to cooperate directly with local farmers to employ strict quality and safety standards for agricultural and sideline products.

The company has more than 2,200 agricultural and sideline products available for direct purchase, including vegetables, fruit, poultry, seafood, dried food, eggs and dairy products.

With this mode of cooperation, METRO assists the farmers and agricultural companies that form the core of its supply chain to control food quality at its source. Removing food that contains pesticide residues and hormones guaranteed that athletes avoided the impact of residues on the results of drug tests.

In addition to ensuring safety at the source, METRO secures the maximum freshness of food with its unbroken cold chain storage to guarantee product quality during delivery to wholesale centers.

It owns a "seamless" cold chain that covers national supply channels across China, the longest of which runs 2,600 km from Shanghai to Kunming.

Furthermore, with the HACCP system, METRO comprehensively checks overall processes in the distribution centers and temperature control during transportation. HACCP also enables the company to monitor the reception, storage and sale of goods in wholesale centers..

It allows the assessment, analysis and control of the risks at critical points during food production and processing, thereby minimizing food safety hazards throughout the whole process and ensuring the highest product quality.

With its sophisticated and strict food safety management system, METRO has successfully supported various major international and domestic events as the designated food supplier for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Expo Shanghai and the 16th Asian Games in 2010.

Company profile

METRO Cash & Carry is represented in 29 countries and has more than 700 self-service wholesale stores worldwide. With more than 120,000 employees worldwide, the wholesale company achieved sales of about 31 billion euros ($40 billion) in 2011.

METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of METRO Group, one of the largest and most international retail companies. In 2011, the Group reached sales of around 67 billion euros (86.7 billion). The company has more than 280,000 employees and operates around 2,200 stores in 32 countries.

In 1996, METRO Cash & Carry opened its first wholesale store in Shanghai. The company was among the first to gain permission from the Chinese central government to set up chain operations in all major cities in China.

Over the last decade, the company has set up operations in 41 cities, with 58 outlets throughout China. With a headcount of around 8,500 employees, the wholesaler is serving more than 3 million professional customers across the country.

Leading self-service wholesaler METRO China has been forging ahead rapidly since its first store opened in Shanghai in 1996.

After 16 years of development and excellent market performance, it now has 58 outlets across the country, with another four to be established within the year.

METRO China, with 8,500 employees, serves 3 million professional customers across the country, of which the most important are hotels, restaurants and cafes.

Statistics show that the company generated 1.5 billion euros ($1.94 billion) in sales revenue in 2011, an increase of 18 percent from 2010.

This is partly thanks to METRO China's unique business model, said the company.

Boasting a large variety of products, the company offers one-stop solutions.

The company has more than 3,000 products under six brands of its own - Aka, Fine Food, HoReCa Select, H-Line, Rioba and Sigma - and 1,000 types of goods imported from across the world.

Among its customers is Greenery Cafe, a chain restaurant specializing in Western-style food in China.

Because shrimp is a major ingredient of the restaurant's signature dish, the cafe's requirements in terms of size and quality are strict, making it difficult for the restaurant to find qualified suppliers in the market.

"METRO China came to us and solved this great headache by offering specific types of shrimp we want," said a representative of Greenery Cafe.

Since 2007, the restaurant has bought 200 tons of shrimp from METRO China, the representative added.

Another contributing factor to the wholesaler's success is its achievements in food safety, which also helped the company become the designated food supplier to the 9th National University Games of China last week.

"We have a unique combination of weapons to ensure safe food from farm to fork," said Uwe Hoelzer, president of METRO China.

The company has been helping more than 25,000 farmers and 1,000 food producers to improve production, processing, packaging and logistics management in line with such international standards as Global GAP, IFS, and ISO 22000 since it established Star Farm, China's first agricultural consultancy company, in late 2007.

"We founded it not to make money; we did it because we could not trust a supply chain without knowing who the farmer is because of middlemen in between," said Hoelzer.

Later, METRO China and Star Farm co-developed the Traceability System, which records every step food goes through on its journey from farm to table.

By scanning a product's barcode, customers will know every detail about it - where it was grown, when it was harvested, how it was transported, when it reaches the date of expiration, and so on.

Such information is the prerequisite of food safety and will help enhance customers' trust.

Now the company owns more than 2,500 traceable products, including meat, fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetables.

"This helps reassure us that METRO China's products are safe now that we can trace them, say vegetables, back to the very moment they were harvested," said Shen Guanzhong, owner of Louwailou Restaurant in Hangzhou, noting that food safety is a matter of prime importance for the food and beverage industry.

In addition, METRO China employs unbroken cold-chains to ensure freshness of products delivered on the way to local wholesale centers, such as the one from Shanghai to Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.

As products arrive at wholesale centers, they are received, processed, stored and sold in accordance with the requirements of the company's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system to ensure their safety and quality.

To maximize the effects of the system, METRO China also provides training courses to its customers.

Thanks to its food safety management system, METRO China has served as a designated food supplier for a number of international and national events, including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 2010 Shanghai World Expo, and the 16th Asian Games in 2010.

Trader support solutions

In addition to expanding its own presence across the country, METRO China is also helping to sharpen the competitive edge of small and medium-sized retailers, another major section of its customers.

These independent retailers, which number around 2 million in the country, are facing fiercer competition as large international ones are attracting more and more customers, according to the company.

In last August, METRO China launched the Trader Support Solutions program in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.

Through the program, local retailers can enjoy a wide range of free services.

For example, METRO China will help analyze their strengths, locate their target customers, suggest products to offer and improve their shops' layout. They can also solicit professional suggestions on other relevant issues, such as how to work out promotion plans, to increase their sales.

"This is a new 'triple-win' cooperation model, as it benefits retailers, METRO China and suppliers," said Hoelzer.

"These customers can purchase quality products from METRO China at competitive prices. METRO China can further increase its sales revenue, and suppliers can increase their profits by reducing the cost of trader management," said Hoelzer.

"Most important of all, through the program METRO China helps small mom and pop shops to survive and succeed in the fierce competition," he added.

Preliminary statistics from METRO China show that the program can help those small retailers and grocers increase their sales by 40 percent, their customers by 20 percent and their profits by more than 10 percent.

Now that the program has begun to bear fruit in Wuxi, Metro China plans to try it in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province.