China’s two dominant manufacturers of railway equipment were on a roll at the end of October.
China CNR won a contract to supply more than 280 subway cars to Boston’s transit system in the first successful US bid by a Chinese rolling stock company. A few weeks later a consortium including CNR’s main domestic rival, CSR Corp, secured the country’s first ever overseas contract for a high-speed rail project, awarded by the Mexican government.
By early November, however, the Mexico contract had been cancelled and CNR and CSR both suspended trading in their shares ahead of a possible government-mandated merger that could reshape the global rail industry. The two companies already rank as the world’s largest manufacturers of rolling stock, with annual sales of about $16bn each.