Korea’s railway industry is aiming to win a bid for a 510-kilometer high-speed rail route project in southeastern Brazil. / Korea Times File |
By Do Je-hae
Staff Reporter
Can Korea's railway industry repeat the export success story of a Korean consortium in acquiring a $40 billion contract to build nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates?
The first time Korea has exported its nuclear technology - finalized in the last week of December 2009 - is serving as inspiration for the Korea Railway Corporation (Korail), and other key industry players, as they gear up for an intense international competition for a new 510-kilometer high-speed railroad project in southeastern Brazil.
On Dec. 20, the Brazilian government issued bidding rules and procedures for the $20 billion project to connect Rio de Janeiro to the industrial city of Campinas, via Sao Paulo, in less than two hours.
The successful bidder will be announced in May.
Brazil is seeking completion of the construction by 2014, when the country will host the 20th FIFA World Cup tournament.
Companies from Korea, Japan and some European countries have been preparing for the bid.
Recently, a consortium of Japanese firms led by Mitsui & Co. publicized its pitch. Japan recently beat Korea in bidding for a railway project in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs has set up a support team with Korail and other corporations.
Authorities will make the project one of the top priorities this year, according to a policy report to President Lee Myung-bak last week.
"We will exert every effort to come out as the winner in the bid for the project," Minister Chung Jong-hwan said.
The ministry will also focus on other similar overseas ventures in the U.S., Asia, Africa and China, as part of efforts to raise Korea's stature as a railway power on the global stage.
Countries around the world are putting more emphasis on expanding railways, in light of the economic, environmental and everyday benefits of high-speed rail systems. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, high-speed rails consume nearly 10 times less fuel than cars and six times less than planes.
In particular, China has been one of the most eager developers of railways. China will invest 823.5 billion yuan ($120.6 billion) in railways in 2010, including the construction of a high-speed train linking Shanghai and Beijing.
Chinese authorities said that they would break ground on 70 new railway projects in 2010 and by the end of 2012, the total length of China's railways would exceed 110,000 kilometers (68,350 miles). At the end of 2009, the network was 86,000 km, the world's second-longest.
Korean companies have had much success in the burgeoning Chinese railway market, having been selected to construct railways in Chongqing, Guangzhou and Harbin in recent years.
Beating France and Italy, Korea won a bid to build a national railway network in Cameroon in June 2009, marking Korea's first railway operation in Africa.
"We believe Korail has the capacity to participate in major railway projects worldwide," Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, director general of the International Union of Railways, said during his visit to Korea in October 2009 to mark the 110th "Railway Day."
More than a century after Korea first adopted the railway system in 1899, Korea has become one of the global frontrunners in the industry.
It is one of the handful of countries in the world - after Japan, France and Germany - that has the capacity to build and operate a 350km/h high-speed train. A bullet train usually runs over 200km/h.
Meanwhile, officials have designated this year as the key period of expansion in the nation's railway infrastructure, which has remained largely unchanged despite some additional lines.
jhdo@koreatimes.co.kr
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김정은 軍에 선물도 父 답습…쌍안경·소총
