The response from my previous article, “North America Rail Supply and China: Why We Should be Concerned,” has been overwhelming and supportive. Apparently, I ripped a Band-Aid off a topic that’s been unfolding and finally being realized by many over the past decade.
Caveat: I am a free-market capitalist who believes in the importance of trade to elevate global prosperity. I believe in comparative advantage, and how countries excel at the supply of certain goods and services, to the benefit of others. I now believe that there needs to be market boundaries, for the long-term health of entire industries and the well-being and security of our citizens.
Chinese SOE (state-owned enterprise) CRRC (China Rail Rolling Stock Corp.) “is less innovative than European and Japanese firms, but mercantilist policies help it dominate in China and expand globally. This starves superior firms of revenue, reduces their R&D and slows the pace of global innovation,” according to a report from an independent Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
ARS Canada Rolling Stock Co. is entering the North American freight railcar market with support from a $3 million repayable contribution from the New Brunswick Provincial government in Canada. Here we go again.
Alstom has completed its $6.68 billion (€5.5 billion) acquisition of Bombardier Transportation, cementing its position as the second largest rail manufacturer in the world after CRRC.
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office has approved CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive’s acquisition of Vossloh Locomotives, saying its concerns do not justify rejecting the merger.
“CRRC AND BEIJING’S DASH FOR GLOBAL ROLLING STOCK DOMINANCE,” a report prepared by Radarlock, which describes itself as “a research organization that uses data-driven analysis to understand techno-economic dynamics in world affairs,” says that China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. (CRRC) is an arm of the Chinese government with “indelible ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” and whose executives “wear dual hats as corporate and as Party leaders.”
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has taken all of its new CRRC (China Railway Rolling Stock Corp.) MA-built Orange Line rapid transit cars out of service to install replacement door bump stops after one door leaf opened on one car while its six-car trainset was in motion, according to a report by MASSLive. The trainset went into emergency braking automatically and stopped, according to the MBTA. No injuries were reported.
The Railway Supply Institute (RSI) sent a letter to Congress on Sept. 5 urging members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to preserve, in Conference, existing language in H.R.2500/S.1790, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, that would prevent federal funds from being used to award a contract or subcontract for the procurement of transit vehicles to priority enterprises owned, controlled, or subsidized by SOEs (State-Owned Enterprises) falling under three specific definitions.
CRRC presented its SigThemis ETCS solution at the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in Stockholm on June 10.