Slowing Down and Falling Behind

China is predicted to be the top country in a few years in terms of technology and business. They have been making strides and moving up in status very quickly. Although no one is just going to sit by and watch as they do this. The U.S. is trying to create their own high-speed rail to add to another form of transportation. Obama wants to spend an estimated 75 billion on transportation starting in the fall with a large proportion of that money going towards a high-speed train. The U.S has been a top country for a while in many aspects and they do not want to let China get ahead. The advancements China is making are motivating others to keep going forward. The competition is good for the economy and developments in societies.

            If China continues with the issues they have been having regarding their high-speed rails then they are going to risk being passed in this area by others. They had to make these changes for safety reasons but it will come at a cost. Someone out there is going to be able to make a high-speed rail similar to China’s but it’s going to be able to function safely with less risk to the customers. No one would get on a plane if they heard that its been having issues and that planes of that make and model have been crashing. It’s going to be the same in China because no one will risk their lives just to get somewhere a little bit quicker.

            So the first thing that china needs to do is put to rest the issues with the trains they’ve been having and let their customers know that everything is safe. Make sure you make it clear to them what went wrong and admit the mistake but move forward. Show them the corrections that have taken place in order to correct these issues. If people see that you have made a strong effort to correct an error that you’ve made it’s going to go a long ways.

            The next thing that China needs to correct in regards to the high-speed rail is the price of the tickets. The average ticket goes for around $63. This is a lot of money for a lot of people over in China. They have been coming up in status as a country very quickly but they still have a very large portion of the population that lives in poverty. It seems like sometimes their government is not always considerate of all the people from all the different social classes in their country. Making separate seating with separate prices would benefit a lot of people. The second-class seating does not have to be anything special and there can definitely still be high quality first-class seating, but just giving the opportunity for some of these people to take these trains would be a nice thing to do. If you’re going to be a country that has a lot of power and is higher status than most you do not want to be one that ignores a majority of its population. Giving opportunities to more people is part of being a great and powerful nation.

            With such a big product and something that no one has ever seen before there is going to be a lot of criticism from everyone who uses it or even just hears about it. They have not done the best job of living up to hype of the product with so many problems. They do not want to let the huge product end up being a dud and I don’t think that will happen. They can take some of these ideas and move forward and not backwards. Continuing to expand their product and make it have even more destinations across the country would help expand the popularity and use. The more people see how good the product is and like it the more they will use it. You want to be a dominant country so you have to do everything you can to keep yourself at the top. The more you expand and further your products the more you leave other people in the dust.

By: Brendan Lemp

Chances of exporting the high-speed rail technology look tiny

Government officials flaunted the high-speed rail program as the crowning glory of the country’s technological and economic superiority. Even United States President Barack Obama looked at Chinese rail system as a model for America’s own rail upgrade. All of this changed after the crash and other glitches that were found in the rail system. The Chinese government had a lot of plans for the future of their high-speed rail. They planned on expanding it all over China and also export the technology to other countries. It all seemed coming along well until the crash at Whanzou that also crashed all the dreams and hopes of Chinese government.

Chinese rail suppliers, who helped build the world’s largest bullet train network in less than a decade, now struggle to sell equipment overseas after two locomotives collided killing at least 39 people.

The train makers include CSR Corp.’ China CNR Corp.’ China Railway construction Corp. and some parts made by Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric Co. They challenged European and Japanese suppliers overseas, touting experienced gained from construction of the nation’s domestic network. The fatal crash undermined their sales pitches as well as their confidence of exporting and competing overseas.

Countries who were planning on importing China’s rail system now are being a little more hesitant. They want to know for sure that the rail system is safe. They are giving much more importance to safety now. Ryota Himeno, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley securities Co. said, “ There’s probably little chance of China winning high-speed train order in the U.S”. CSR had many overseas orders including one from Malaysia according to its annual report. CSR dropped approximately 8.9 percent after the collision while China CNR fell 4.1 percent, China Rail Construction builder of more than half of the nation’s rail links since 1949 tumbled 5 percent. Looking at all this it looks hard for CSR to keep their overseas orders.

Although after the collision China has been working very hard to come clean and keep its name good in high-speed rail industry. They fired high officials who were blamed for being involved in corruption. They also slowed down their speed of building the rail system keeping in mind the safety issues. They are trying hard to work their way to the top again so theirs hopes for the high-speed rail won’t be crashed with the collision.

Edwin Merner president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo said “their chances of selling high-speed trains are zero”. As harsh it may sound and no matter how disappointing it is to he Chinese this is the truth. No one in the world would want trains from a country that couldn’t even handle their own rail system. Not only the crash but many other small and large glitches have been encountered in the rail system. Corruption played a big part in the downfall of the rail system.  If this system would have been implemented the same way but just with a little more care and honesty keeping in mind its bright future above selfish motives it would have in true sense been the pride of China.