China is "more than 90 percent certain" to adopt Japan's bullet-train technology to build a new multi-billion dollar high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai, state press reported yesterday.
Although Transrapid International, a consortium comprising German industrial engineers ThyssenKrupp AG and Siemens AG, has not yet given up hope that China would adopt its magnetic levitation or Maglev train, its prospects look dim, the Economic Observer said, citing the Ministry of Railways.
Earlier this month, German media reported that China was unlikely to proceed with its plan to build the 1,300km line based on the German space-age technology.
A senior member of the Siemens' management team said that it had received "clear signals that the decision will be taken in favor of the traditional train technology."
Hopes had been high after Shanghai installed the 430km per hour Maglev for commercial use on a line between the city's Pudong airport and downtown.
Following its successful test run earlier this year, former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (朱隆基) said China would build a second "maglev" line from Shanghai to the eastern city of Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.
It was expected that Beijing-Shanghai may follow suit.
However, competition has been fierce, with France's TGV and Japan's Shinkansen bullet train vying for a contract worth an estimated US$12 billion as well as other proposals to connect major cities in China by high-speed rail.
Japan's Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said last week she wants to visit China to promote Japan's bullet train.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS