Sunday, February 24, 2013

No. 690: Japanese railway operation technology goes to Vietnam (February 25, 2013)

Business trend:
Tokyo Metro, the subway company in the Tokyo Metropolis, will extend operational support on urban railway to Vietnam. The company will establish an overseas subsidiary in Hanoi to give support on operation management and human resource development for the urban railway that Vietnam constructs in Hanoi within the month. Tokyo Metro will invest 90% and Japan International Consultants for Transportation that is a subsidiary of JR East invests 10%. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will give financial support. Tokyo Metro will dispatch about 10 staffs to the overseas subsidiary to provide Japanese know-how on the integrated management of a railway network and safety operation.

The subsidiary will work on the urban line in Hanoi scheduled to start operations in the spring of 2015. Hanoi plans to open five urban railway lines by 2020. Because three countries of Japan, France, and China will construct the lines, specifications of overhead wiring and signal system vary with the line. Tokyo Metro currently operates nine subway lines with a total length of about 200 km in Tokyo, and it has accumulated know-how on operation and management on railways networks in a big city.

The world railway market is expected to grow 2.5% annually by 2020 to 22 trillion yen. Especially, the Asian and Western Europe are the two big markets, each of which will grow to 6 trillion yen by 2010. Japanese railway companies are making strenuous efforts to get orders from overseas markets. JR Tokai, the operator of Tokaido Shinkansen, is trying to get an order from the U.S. with its linear motor car. JR East established its Belgium office last November and will establish an office in Singapore coming Mach.    

 
A subway line in Tokyo 
 

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