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California governor seeks Chinese investment in high speed rail
Well they’re (CHSRA) not going to get anymore money from Washington for the time being.
As a very long-term investment the CHSR System might not be a bad bet, especially if a lot of the money goes back to China for construction materials, like steel for bridges.
Wouldn’t trust their signaling technology, but rolling stock might be OK… thou it seems that Siemens would be the leading contender with their Sacramento plant. It doesn’t likely much matter since CHSRA and Amtrak have agreed to use the same rolling stock manufacturer.
Still, unless either federal funds or state funds can be had beyond what has been raised for the Central Valley, Caltrains, and Metrolink segments, its hard to see how the Chinese could get their money back… except in the very long run… like 50 to 100 year bonding.
But if they agree with the CHSRA’s latest figures after a due diligence study, more power to them.
What a shame!!! China is heavily invested in our economy and now our railroads?!?!?! This is sad, we should be able to build American railroads ON OUR OWN. If Americans can’t build their own railroads on their own, we shouldn’t be building them.
There was a time when this nation needed nobody to build anything.
It’s almost apples-to-oranges. You have Communism and lack of environmental concern VS. Capitalism/Democracy and intense environmental protection.
And a headline from today’s New York Times:
China’s Former Rail Minister Is Charged With Corruption
maybe he is looking for a job
I am looking forward to how the results of this trip will be reported.
“If you sup with the devil you had better use a long handled spoon” is the message I have for Moon Beam Brown.
Mr. Norton, when was that “time when this nation needed nobody to build anything”? British (and other European) investors were major shareholders and bondholders in U.S. railroad companies as they expanded in the 19th and early 20th Century, holding about a third of U.S. railroad securities at the turn of the 19th-20th Centuries. We’d have had a one-third smaller U.S. railroad system going into WWI if we really “needed nobody to build anything.”