xav
06-03-2009, 06:56 AM
Europe's engineering and rail companies are lining up for some potentially lucrative U.S. contracts for high-speed rail projects.
At stake is $13 billion in stimulus funds that the Obama administration is allocating to upgrade existing rail lines and build new ones that could one day rival Europe's fastest.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled through Europe this week, riding France's 200 mile-per-hour bullet train, and meeting officials from several companies eager for U.S. orders.
On Friday, he is expected to visit Spanish construction, civil engineering and train-building companies.
"We think that the U.S. is a market that is going to explode," said Nora Friend, a vice president for the U.S. unit of Patentes Talgo SA, a Spanish train builder that is in talks with several U.S. states.
Engineering giants Alstom SA, of France, and Siemens AG, of Germany, each say they hope the U.S. will adopt their respective bullet-train technologies, which include rolling stock, and high-tech signaling and electrification systems. Siemens has already begun talks with California, the state with the most advanced plans for an ultra-fast network in the U.S.
Construction and infrastructure companies that have built high-speed lines in Europe -- including Spain's ACS Actividades y Servicios de Construcción SA -- have said they are interested in building or upgrading U.S. lines.
"Participating in the U.S. high-speed train is part of our [long-term] strategy," said Marcelino Fernández, president of ACS's construction unit, Dragados. lines.
State-owned railways including Spain's Renfe and France's state railway company, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, or SNCF, have said they are interested in running U.S. rail networks.
Officials from both SNCF and Alstom will be part of a delegation led by French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau that will travel to the U.S. next week to promote French high-speed technology.
"We see that there's now a huge, huge interest in the U.S.," said Joern F. Sens, chief executive of Siemens's rolling stock unit. Siemens believes the global railway business will be worth more than $150 billion a year by 2016, and "a major share of that will be in the U.S.," Mr. Sens said.
The world railway business was worth about $120 billion in 2007, according to the Association of the European Rail Industry.
U.S. plans are still at an early stage, and European companies' hopes in a U.S. fast-rail system have been raised -- and dashed -- before. In 1991, a consortium including Alstom was selected to build a high-speed rail connections between three Texas cities -- Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. But the contract was later canceled because of lack of funding and intense airline opposition.
This time, however, the federal government is on board. In April, President Barack Obama spelled out his plan to "transform travel in America with an historic investment in high-speed rail."
Some states have already started forging ahead.
California's voters approved a $10 billion bond issue to fund an ambitious plan for an 800-mile network of bullet trains that will travel at up to 220 mph. State officials have outlined plans to build high-speed lines capable of taking passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours.
Mr. LaHood this week declared France's TGV bullet train a "magnificent system" after a trip from Paris to Strasbourg. "In America we're just beginning what you've done here in Europe," Mr. LaHood said. But he cautioned that the U.S. would not just be looking to Europe for technology.
European companies will face stiff competition from others including Canada's Bombardier Inc. And, though the U.S. doesn't have its own candidate to make the high-speed trains, it has construction and engineering companies aplenty for the most expensive part of the projects: building the lines.
"This isn't the conquest of America, or a gold rush," said Ignacio Barrón, director of High Speed Rail at the Paris-based International Union of Railways.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124354749274164117.html
About time they are starting to seriously think about High speed train for parts of the US.
At stake is $13 billion in stimulus funds that the Obama administration is allocating to upgrade existing rail lines and build new ones that could one day rival Europe's fastest.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood traveled through Europe this week, riding France's 200 mile-per-hour bullet train, and meeting officials from several companies eager for U.S. orders.
On Friday, he is expected to visit Spanish construction, civil engineering and train-building companies.
"We think that the U.S. is a market that is going to explode," said Nora Friend, a vice president for the U.S. unit of Patentes Talgo SA, a Spanish train builder that is in talks with several U.S. states.
Engineering giants Alstom SA, of France, and Siemens AG, of Germany, each say they hope the U.S. will adopt their respective bullet-train technologies, which include rolling stock, and high-tech signaling and electrification systems. Siemens has already begun talks with California, the state with the most advanced plans for an ultra-fast network in the U.S.
Construction and infrastructure companies that have built high-speed lines in Europe -- including Spain's ACS Actividades y Servicios de Construcción SA -- have said they are interested in building or upgrading U.S. lines.
"Participating in the U.S. high-speed train is part of our [long-term] strategy," said Marcelino Fernández, president of ACS's construction unit, Dragados. lines.
State-owned railways including Spain's Renfe and France's state railway company, Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, or SNCF, have said they are interested in running U.S. rail networks.
Officials from both SNCF and Alstom will be part of a delegation led by French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau that will travel to the U.S. next week to promote French high-speed technology.
"We see that there's now a huge, huge interest in the U.S.," said Joern F. Sens, chief executive of Siemens's rolling stock unit. Siemens believes the global railway business will be worth more than $150 billion a year by 2016, and "a major share of that will be in the U.S.," Mr. Sens said.
The world railway business was worth about $120 billion in 2007, according to the Association of the European Rail Industry.
U.S. plans are still at an early stage, and European companies' hopes in a U.S. fast-rail system have been raised -- and dashed -- before. In 1991, a consortium including Alstom was selected to build a high-speed rail connections between three Texas cities -- Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston. But the contract was later canceled because of lack of funding and intense airline opposition.
This time, however, the federal government is on board. In April, President Barack Obama spelled out his plan to "transform travel in America with an historic investment in high-speed rail."
Some states have already started forging ahead.
California's voters approved a $10 billion bond issue to fund an ambitious plan for an 800-mile network of bullet trains that will travel at up to 220 mph. State officials have outlined plans to build high-speed lines capable of taking passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours.
Mr. LaHood this week declared France's TGV bullet train a "magnificent system" after a trip from Paris to Strasbourg. "In America we're just beginning what you've done here in Europe," Mr. LaHood said. But he cautioned that the U.S. would not just be looking to Europe for technology.
European companies will face stiff competition from others including Canada's Bombardier Inc. And, though the U.S. doesn't have its own candidate to make the high-speed trains, it has construction and engineering companies aplenty for the most expensive part of the projects: building the lines.
"This isn't the conquest of America, or a gold rush," said Ignacio Barrón, director of High Speed Rail at the Paris-based International Union of Railways.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124354749274164117.html
About time they are starting to seriously think about High speed train for parts of the US.