数十年来，高速铁路行业一直为欧洲、日本和北美的少数企业所主导，而它们大多将注意力集中在自己所在地区的市场。
而现在，正当全球各地的高铁项目数量出现快速增长之际，中国国有铁路建设企业的迅速崛起，对德国西门子(Siemens)、法国阿尔斯通(Alstom)、加拿大庞巴迪(Bombardier)以及日本川崎重工(Kawasaki)等企业的主导地位构成了严重威胁。
“中国企业正在改变全球铁路市场的格局，这既因为他们国内市场规模可观，也因为他们开始参与国际投标，而后者是一种新现象，”阿尔斯通亚太区董事总经理多米尼克•普利康(Dominique Pouliquen)表示。
尽管中国企业刚刚登上全球舞台，而且在质量和技术方面落后于欧洲竞争对手，但它们也拥有一些重大优势。
“价格是它们最具竞争力的优势，而且它们非常有组织性，还拥有中国国有银行的资金支持，”普利康表示。
“他们向全球提供的一揽子方案通常既包括技术解决方案又包括融资方案，因此各国政府很容易决定采用他们的产品。”直接拥有中国多家铁路公司的中国铁道部通常会协调投标事宜，因此中国企业之间不会相互竞争。铁道部还会拿出增加庞大中国市场准入权的诱人前景，来鼓励外资企业加入中国财团。
分析师称，中国企业已经在非常积极地参与中东与拉丁美洲项目的投标活动。他们还将目标瞄准了澳大利亚和美国的一些项目，并已在亚洲地区取得长足进展，在泰国和香港都获得了合约。
渴望走向世界的中国铁路业几乎是在一夜之间崛起的。咨询公司劳氏船级社铁路（亚洲）(Lloyd's Register Rail (Asia))董事总经理伊恩•卡迈克尔(Iain Carmichael)表示，就在3年前，中国企业还不具备本国铁路系统众多组成部分所需的技术，例如信号系统和高铁技术。
“但随着中国企业获得这些技术，关系就发生了转变。现在中国企业占据了上风，欧洲企业若想竞争就必须合作。”
限制中国铁路车辆出口的主要因素是产能，中国企业正努力赶上国内订单的增长速度——中国如今已是全球最大的铁路市场。
“一些大型制造商今年打算把产出提高两倍，我们看到地铁系统和高速铁路都出现巨大扩张，”卡迈克尔表示。
据麦肯锡(McKinsey)预测，中国铁路设备（包括车辆、部件、以及信号系统等设备）市场的规模，将在2004至2008年年均100亿美元的基础上增加4倍——在2009至2013年间达到年均逾500亿美元。
今年，在全球铁路设备总支出中，中国有望占一半以上。
中国政府计划在未来5年内至少新建3万公里铁路，其中大部分为高铁。预计中国将很快超过俄罗斯，成为仅次于美国的铁路基础设施规模全球第二大国。
金融危机爆发后，为了帮助提振经济，中国铁路扩建有所加速。许多项目的目标完工日期从2020年提早至2015年。
中国铁路市场的规模与地位在一定程度上解释了，为什么欧洲和国际铁路设备供应商竞相与中国国有生产商在中国国内外展开合作。
但是，合作是有代价的。
“欧洲厂商抱怨称，他们根据[北京方面的]要求向中国企业转让了技术，现在中国企业却利用他们的技术，与他们在国际市场、甚至在欧洲本地市场展开价格战，”香港载通国际(Transport International)高管欧阳杞浚(Evan Auyang)表示。
译者/何黎
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001031780
For decades the high-speed railway sector has been dominated by a handful of companies in Europe, Japan and North America that have mostly focused on their own regional markets.
But now, just as the industry witnesses a proliferation of high-speed rail projects across the globe, the rapid rise of Chinese state-owned rail producers is posing a serious threat to the dominance of companies such as Germany's Siemens, France's Alstom, Canada's Bombardier and Japan's Kawasaki.
“Chinese companies are changing the landscape of the global railway market because of the dimensions of their home market and because they are becoming involved in international tenders, which is new,” says Dominique Pouliquen, Asia-Pacific managing director for Alstom.
While Chinese companies are new to the global stage and lag their European rivals in terms of quality and technology, they have some significant advantages.
“Price is their number one competitive advantage and they are very well organised, with financing support from Chinese state-owned banks,” Mr Pouliquen says.
“They offer a global package which is usually combining technical solutions with financing so it is very easy for governments to make a decision to use their products.” The Chinese Ministry of Railways, which directly owns many of the country's rail companies, co-ordinates tenders so they do not bid against each other. It also encourages foreign companies to join Chinese consortiums by holding out the prospect of greater access to the enormous Chinese market.
Analysts say Chinese companies are already very active in bidding for projects in the Middle East and Latin America. They are also targeting projects in Australia and the US and have already made significant inroads in their own region, with contracts in Thailand and Hong Kong.
The rise of a Chinese rail industry with global aspirations has happened virtually overnight. Iain Carmichael, managing director of consultants Lloyd's Register Rail (Asia), says that as recently as three years ago Chinese companies did not have the know-how for many parts of their own rail systems, such as signalling and high-speed technology.
“But as the Chinese gained the know-how, the relationship changed, so now the Chinese have the upper hand and the Europeans have to work co-operatively if they want to compete.”
The main constraint on Chinese exports of rolling stock is capacity, as Chinese producers try to keep up with orders at home in what is now the largest market in the world.
“Some big manufacturers are tripling their output this year and we're seeing a vast expansion of metro systems as well as high speed rail,” Mr Carmichael says.
China's market for rail equipment, including trains, components and equipment such as signalling systems, is expected to quintuple from an average of $10bn a year between 2004 and 2008 to more than $50bn between 2009 and 2013, according to McKinsey.
This year, China is expected to account for more than half of the total global expenditure on rail equipment.
The government plans to build at least 30,000km of new railway, most of it high speed, over the next five years and China is expected soon to overtake Russia to have the second-largest rail infrastructure in the world after the US.
Expansion has been accelerated following the financial crisis to help boost growth. Target dates for completion of many projects are up from 2020 to 2015.
The size and scale of the Chinese market partly explains why European and international rail equipment providers are scrambling to partner Chinese state producers inside the country and around the world.
But co-operation has come at a price.
“European manufacturers have complained that they have transferred technology to China as required [by Beijing] and now the Chinese are using their technology to compete on price in the international market and even in the European home markets,” says Evan Auyang, an executive at Hong Kong-based Transport International.
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