Transrapit - [Archive] - SkyscraperCity

Manu84

July 13th, 2005, 07:08 PM

here are the news of the last weeks

AFX News Limited
ThyssenKrupp optimistic on new Transrapid orders in China, Middle East
06.21.2005, 04:09 AM

FRANKFURT (AFX) - ThyssenKrupp AG is optimistic it will win new orders for its Transrapid high speed magnetic levitation train in China and the Middle East, Olaf Berlien, head of the company's Technologies unit said, according to the Financial Times Deutschland.

'We hope that we will win a contract to expand the (Shanghai) line to Hangzhou this year,' Berlien said at a presentation in Kiel, Germany last weekend.

He also said ThyssenKrupp expects to hear a positive decision soon for a proposed Transrapid line from Qatar to Bahrain.

However, a feasibility study for this project has not yet been made.

Transrapid is a joint venture between ThyssenKrupp and Siemens AG.

People involved in the negotiations told the Financial Times Deutschland said that tensions have developed between the two firms because Siemens proposed its ICE high speed trains to the Chinese government as an alternative to the Transrapid.

Non-levitating ICE trains can reach speeds of 230 kilometres per hour, while the Transrapid can travel at up to 500 kilometres per hour.

Qatar agrees to feasibility study for Gulf maglev

15 June 2005

BERLIN - A proposal to build a magnetic-levitation railway on the Gulf's southern shore moved a step forward on Tuesday when Qatar and Germany agreed to launch a feasibility study.

The technical and economic study on a 160-kilometre line was agreed by Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa al- Thani, and German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in talks in Berlin.

Schroeder lobbied for the German-built Transrapid system on a Gulf visit in March. The trains hover on a field of magnetic force and are propelled by electromagnets in the track, allowing them to travel at very high speed.

The feasibility study will deal with a rail linking between Qatar and Bahrain
over a new bridge connecting the two. Gulf officials have also considered an extension to the United Arab Emirates that would make the line 800 kilometres long.

In March, Schroeder invited regional officials to visit the test track in northwestern Germany. The world's first commercial Transrapid is operating in Shanghai, China. Transrapid is a joint venture between German companies Thyssen-Krupp and Siemens.

The two leaders said the planned modernisation of Qatar's transport infrastructure offered an "excellent opportunity" for cooperation with Germany. They also agreed to set up a joint economic commission.