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.