Germany Loses out in Chinese Railway Upgrade

Germany's top firms have lost out again in the Far East after China's Railway Ministry announced that six companies, including Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan, Alstom SA of France and Bombadier Inc. of Canada had been awarded contracts for upgrading key railway lines. No German tenders were accepted, the rest of the contracts going to Chinese companies. In addition to losing out in the $12 billion upgrade project, German train firms will be seething at news that the Chinese have also decided in favor of the Japanese shinkansen or "bullet train" technology to run on the new rail system. The latest snub will irk German companies further after the Chinese rejection of the magnetic levitation railway Transrapid. Five railway lines are to be upgraded, stretching over 1,250 miles. They include a line between Beijing and the northeastern city of Shenyang and another connecting Qingdao and Jinan, two major cities in eastern China's Shandong province.