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China expands high-speed rail plan
 China may choose Japan's Shinkansen bullet train for part of its high-speed rail expansion plans. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Six Japanese companies led by Kawasaki Heavy Industries are in the final stages of talks to supply China with 60 high-speed trains, according to Japanese media reports. To improve its railway network, China is planning to spend more than $80 billion for a high-speed system covering about 12,000 km (7,500 miles), Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported. Germany's Siemens has already won an order for 60 eight-car trains from China, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday. It said a contract worth 669 million euros ($785 million) was signed in Berlin during a state visit to Germany by China's President Hu Jintao a week ago. The trains are to be used initially on the Beijing-Tianjin route from 2008 and extended to other high-speed routes later on, according to a Siemens statement. As part of China's rail expansion plans, the Kawasaki-led Japanese group, which includes Itochu, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Corp. and Marubeni, is expected to win a contract for 60 Shinkansen "bullet" trains. According to a report by the Nihon Keizai business daily, the Chinese Ministry of Railways said in October it would place an order for 100 high-speed trains to run at up to 300 km/h on raised tracks. The ministry singled out Japanese and German firms as prospective vendors. The other 20 trains are from a previous order. The Nikkei report said the Japanese trains to be delivered will be based on the Hayate, a model operated by East Japan Railway on the Tohoku line. It said the trains likely would run between the industrial city of Wuhan in Hubei province and the coastal city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province. Chinese firm CSR Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. will build the trains, while the Japanese firms will supply parts and transfer technology at the request of the Chinese government, according to the Nikkei report. The Nikkei said the train deal was not a sure thing, given anti-Japanese sentiment in China. 
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