Chinese rail expertise in growing overseas demand

As China's domestic railways and trains have rapidly grown to become some of the very best in the world, demand for Chinese rail technology in other countries has soared.

A bullet train draws into the Beijing South Railway Station. [File Photo: IC]

CRRC, the Chinese publicly traded manufacturer, is by any metric now the largest train maker on the planet.

It employs nearly 200,000 people around the world, and provides technology to customers in over 100 countries.

In 2015, the firm unveiled its first train designed for the European marketplace, which is now used in Macedonia.

Other European orders are expected to follow, alongside a $1.3 billion contract to manufacture new carriages for Chicago's metro in 2016. Other US projects are in the pipeline.

CRRC has been keen to explore partnerships with overseas firms, and in 2015 opened a research and development center in the United Kingdom.

With this overseas success, CRRC is putting pressure on European competitors.

A report from Germany's dw.com has commented that "the emergence of CRRC meant intensified competition in a sector that had hitherto been the domain of a limited number of companies from Europe, Japan and North America."

Alongside the merger of the railway divisions of Siemens and Alstrom last year, further consolidation in the sector is now expected.