Shinkansen sales facing challenges abroad

[bikkuri bahn]

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Japanese firms are desperately trying to stage a comeback in the competition for overseas high-speed rail projects, which are seen as a pillar of the government’s plan to increase infrastructure exports.

After losing out to rival China in Indonesia, domestic railway companies are ramping up efforts to win bids in the United States and Singapore. The true value of Japanese firms’ technological and sales abilities is being questioned.

 

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002597935

Edited December 7, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[velotrain]

As has been discussed previously, I feel that population density is the essential ingredient to Japan's train-centric culture and the success of the Shinkansen.  I don't think any HSR effort in the US would be successful, partly due to the established car culture - which the lower price of gas is just encouraging.  There is an ad on TV for a 700 HP car.

 

Looking at a map, Singapore appears to already have a well-established rail system, so I wonder what new project is under discussion for there.  I thought it was a rather small country - perhaps on a par with Hong Kong, so can't imagine a real need for HSR.

 

While the dedicated, Shinkansen only tracks are no doubt a very large part of the safety record and general success, I've had the impression that this has been a stumbling block with some of the overseas discussions.

 

> The true value of Japanese firms’ technological and sales abilities is being questioned.

 

This doesn't seem right - it's forces beyond their control.

[bikkuri bahn]

Looking at a map, Singapore appears to already have a well-established rail system, so I wonder what new project is under discussion for there.

 

Singapore-Kuala Lumpur.

 

The true value of Japanese firms’ technological and sales abilities is being questioned.

 

This doesn't seem right - it's forces beyond their control.

 

One opinion I've read is the strategy pursued by Japanese firms based on a railway that is costly but tops in punctuality, safety, and preciseness is overkill- while running a system that averages less than a minutes delay is impressive, most countries would be satisfied with a system that has trains run within, say, 10 minutes of its schedule, while being cheaper to build and operate than the gold-plated one offered by Japanese firms.  A train system is a reflection of the culture it runs in, and the fact of shinkansen punctuality has to do with it being run by and for Japanese. 

 

As for sales, one problem that has been pointed out is an under-manned sales force at Japanese railway firms- there are very few personnel with the railway knowledge and expertise with the requisite English skills to effectively, pursuasively promote the shinkansen system.  The Chinese can use their cost advantage, hurry hurry planning, and "millions of km" of HSR pitch, while the Europeans can use their "UIC is the world standard" pitch.

[JR 500系]

I hate to see the Japanese unable to clinch overseas HSR projects, the shinkansen system is truly amazing and world class and should be meant for the world to enjoy...

 

But as bikkuri has mentioned, the factors are indeed stacked against the Japanese. Most Government would not wish to spend that extensive amount of money for a railway system without guaranteed results or return revenues...  And the Chinese has amazing fund support programs which helped them clinch the Indonesian project... I foresee too that the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur HSR project will most likely be won by the Chinese due to this main factor too...

 

I fear the days of being able to see a REAL E2 series or E5 series pull up at the Jurong East HSR station is way beyond reach....

[kvp]

The chinese state ordered the best technology from Germany and Japan, then copied both and created their trains, which have the best parts from both and thanks to leaving out non essential coponents, like crash safety reinforcements are much cheaper to buy and operate. They also have a financing plan that gives a credit for the whole project with near 0% upfront cost. Most governments who couldn't afford a normally priced HSR system would choose the chinese one. On the other hand, those government or private firms who have the money are usually choosing german or japanese systems, like the british did with their Hitachi trains. It's not really possible to compete with the free now, pay a lot less later strategy of China, which is used for gaining a market share and driving out the competition from most of the world.