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Schwarzenegger checks out China's high-speed rail - World news - Asia-Pacific - China - msnbc.com
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
updated 9/12/2010 2:16:05 AM ET
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inspects a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. Schwarzenegger is riding the rails, China's new high speed train lines, engaging in a little window shopping while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
SHANGHAI Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is engaging in a little window-shopping of China's new high-speed train lines while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy.
His own state budget $19 billion in the red, Schwarzenegger says he is hoping for some "creative financing" from Asia to help lower costs and get California's proposed high-speed rail lines up and running.
Industry experts say cash-rich China may be best placed to help with funding, and less risk averse than others whose banks are still recovering from the financial crisis. That could prove a key competitive advantage as it goes head-to-head against better established high-speed rivals rail in Asia and Europe.
"That is something very attractive about the Chinese which the Europeans will find very difficult to compete with," said Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry. "Even in America, finance is a scarce resource. Rail investments need a lot of investment up front."
China has invested huge prestige, and tens of billions of dollars, in its high-speed rail industry building on mostly European know-how acquired in joint ventures with Siemens AG, Alstom SA and to a lesser extent Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet train operators. It is gearing up to fight for a chunk of what Unife estimates to be a 122 billion euros ($155 billion)-a-year global market for railways.
Schwarzenegger posed for photos Sunday on a high-speed train in Shanghai, after spending Saturday, the first day of his weeklong trade mission of nearly 100 business leaders, hobnobbing in Hangzhou with Jack Ma, founder of Internet trading behemoth Alibaba.com, and other Chinese entrepreneurs.
"Today what I have seen is very, very impressive. We hope China is part of the bidding process, along with other countries around the world, so that we can build high speed rail as inexpensively as possible," he told reporters.
By ELAINE KURTENBACH
updated 9/12/2010 2:16:05 AM ET
Share Print Font:
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inspects a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. Schwarzenegger is riding the rails, China's new high speed train lines, engaging in a little window shopping while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
SHANGHAI Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is engaging in a little window-shopping of China's new high-speed train lines while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy.
His own state budget $19 billion in the red, Schwarzenegger says he is hoping for some "creative financing" from Asia to help lower costs and get California's proposed high-speed rail lines up and running.
Industry experts say cash-rich China may be best placed to help with funding, and less risk averse than others whose banks are still recovering from the financial crisis. That could prove a key competitive advantage as it goes head-to-head against better established high-speed rivals rail in Asia and Europe.
"That is something very attractive about the Chinese which the Europeans will find very difficult to compete with," said Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry. "Even in America, finance is a scarce resource. Rail investments need a lot of investment up front."
China has invested huge prestige, and tens of billions of dollars, in its high-speed rail industry building on mostly European know-how acquired in joint ventures with Siemens AG, Alstom SA and to a lesser extent Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet train operators. It is gearing up to fight for a chunk of what Unife estimates to be a 122 billion euros ($155 billion)-a-year global market for railways.
Schwarzenegger posed for photos Sunday on a high-speed train in Shanghai, after spending Saturday, the first day of his weeklong trade mission of nearly 100 business leaders, hobnobbing in Hangzhou with Jack Ma, founder of Internet trading behemoth Alibaba.com, and other Chinese entrepreneurs.
"Today what I have seen is very, very impressive. We hope China is part of the bidding process, along with other countries around the world, so that we can build high speed rail as inexpensively as possible," he told reporters.
But I'm supporter of high speed trains hopefully this will be a good start for the future. 
. Wonder if he is going to tow the train back to Schwarzenegger land via rowboat.
