Large manufacturers have unveiled their new high-speed platforms. The new designs have been created to reach speeds of over 350 km/h. Competition is fierce. Many new projects are at stake, such as the Trenitalia tender, meant to compete with the future private high-speed operator NTV, the new ultra high-speed lines in Russia, the regulation of high-speed contracts in the US, included in Obama’s new plan for economic recovery, new opportunities in the Middle East and, last but not least, many new projects in China. At marketing level, many suppliers have joined forces. Manufacturers such as Bombardier and AnsaldoBreda or Hitachi and Mitsubishi have begun to cooperate in the creation of new platforms, based on their own designs.
The success of the high-speed market is strongly related to the image promoted. Signing a high-speed contract is a testament of quality and technological supremacy. The design is often confounded with the technological performances of the manufacturer’s country of origin; thereby, the offer provided by Alstom is confounded with the performances of the French state, Talgo’s offer with the Spanish performance, AnsaldoBreda’s offer with the Italian level of performance and so on and so forth. There are interests at stake that go beyond the economic perspective and they can influence the commercial and political relations between customers and suppliers. A small scandal has already been generated around the contract signed for the Mecca-Medina rail link, when it was decided that the criteria based on which the contract would be awarded should be divided into 80% for the financial offer and 20% for the technical offer, thus favouring the Chinese platform. The fact that the criteria were contested led to the revision of the offers and the dismissal of the Chinese (CSR), German (Deutsche Bahn-Siemens) and South-Korean (Hyunday-Samsung-Korail) offers. Commenting on the selection of the criteria, SNCF President Guillaume Pepy said that “30 months of expertise in the field of high-speed transport cannot be compared with 30 years”. What he meant to say was that the risk is very high when the price is placed before the technical performances obtained during years of experience. French experts claim that the Saudi project is the biggest one yet for Alstom and that if it’s successful, the French industry would gain a legitimate first place at commercial level, in the context in which the French manufacturer holds the record for highest speed achieved by conventional trains.
Joint platforms: Bombardier/AnsaldoBreda and Hitachi/Mitsubishi
Other manufacturers are still testing their new designs. Bombardier, AnsaldoBreda and CAF contribute to the development of several high-speed platforms, but without coming up with a platform of their own. Bombardier has created the new ZEFIRO platform. In collaboration with AnsaldoBreda, this platform will be used for the new Trenitalia train and in collaboration with Chinese partners, the new ZEFIRO platform will be supplied to the Chinese authorities as the CRH1 unit. Bombardier and AnsaldoBreda have joined forces in order to develop a common design. This way, they hope to win the contract for the new high-speed train created by Trenitalia, who plans to acquire 50 ultra high-speed trains. Roberto Tazzioli, CEO Bombardier Italia, said that “this new platform will provide the national Italian operator with the latest technological innovations and that the new train will play a major role in the development of the Italian railway sector”. The new platform will be based on Bombardier’s ZEFIRO and on AnsaldoBreda’s V300 designs. Japanese manufacturers also hope to benefit from the high-speed expertise. Recently, Hitachi and Mitsubishi signed a cooperation agreement in the field of high-speed systems and urban transport for the foreign markets. Japan is currently facing with a serious downfall of the domestic rolling stock demand. Suppliers have begun to focus all their attention on the export sector. The uncertainty revolving around the Intercity Express Programme which was suspended in February 2010 forced Hitachi to redirect its attention towards the US market, which is believed to be the most attractive market for Japanese suppliers. Yoshyuki Kasai, CEO JR Central, said that the Chinese competitors are willing to break the design limits and provide less secure and cheaper platforms compared to the Japanese suppliers. He excludes China as a potential market for the Shinkansen trains, seeing as this country may begin to adopt some of the Japanese technology.
by Alin Lupulescu
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