China: Sleeping dragon set for growth
Touring a Sino-Canadian railcar production facility in the seaside city of Qingdao in eastern China offers a glimpse of the country’s lofty rail ambitions.
This summer the Bombardier Sifang Power (BSP) site delivered 225 specially designed railroad cars for the new line to Tibet, which opened on July 1.
Those railcars, which have boosted oxygen levels to cope with the thinner air at altitude and store all their waste, are being used for the first time on the world’s highest railway.
“Tibet trains are the most challenging because of special technical requests and a very tight delivery schedule,” says Zhang Jianwei, the chief representative for Bombardier in China.
The Tibet rail line, which climbs to more than 16,600ft above sea level, has been criticised as a part of Beijing’s alleged attempt to impose greater control over the contested region.
Whatever the political arguments, the technological achievement is impressive. But workers at BSP have barely paused to celebrate, rushing on to the next big task
