A consortium led by Chinese and Indian railway companies has been chosen to conduct afeasibility study on a 1,200-kilometer high-speed railway line between New Delhi and Mumbai,indicating that Chinese railway firms are making rapid strides in the lucrative Indian market.
The consortium, led by Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Corporation, asubsidiary of China Railway Corporation, beat 11 consortiums from countries including Germany,France and Italy in the bidding process, CRC said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Chinese railway companies are competitive in terms of advanced technology, reliability andbetter price ratio," said the statement.
In December, the Indian Railways floated a tender seeking consultants for an engineeringfeasibility study on its three proposed high-speed rail links-New Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Chennai and New Delhi-Kolkata.
Though the feasibility study is just the first step in what could be a long drawn-out process,Chinese companies are confident that their rich domestic experience will help in winning the finalbid for the high-speed rail project.
China has built an impressive high-speed railway network of about 17,000 km, accounting formore than 60 percent of the world's total.
The Indian award comes as the contest between China and Japan is heating up for a high-speedrail project in Indonesia.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution said on Thursday thatthe government may consider proceeding with the high-speed railway project, withdrawing anearlier decision on the cancellation of the project.
Experts said the battle in India's high-speed rail market is becoming increasingly vital for ChinaRailway Corporation and may pave the way for other rail projects if it wins the bid.
Wang Mengshu, a tunnel and railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said thatChinese high-speed rail technology is very mature and can cater to the diversified requirementsof various countries.
"Chinese high-speed rail makers can provide lower prices than its rivals, and with richexperience in overseas railway construction, they can deliver the project in a shorter time," hesaid.