China will likely begin supplying Mexico bullet trains through a consortium of four Chinese companies and four Mexican firms, reports Caixin Online. It would mark the first time China has exported its high-speed trains.

The consortium, which the Mexican government said was the sole bidder for a project to begin later this year, consists of China Railway Construction Corp., China Railway International Group, China Railway Construction Corp. (Mexico) S.A. de C.V. and CSR Corp.  

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The group of eight companies bid a  $4.3 billion plan to build high-speed passenger trains, and a 210 kilometer line (130 miles) linking Mexico City and Queretaro, according to the Mexican government.

Caixin reports that China's Premier, Li Keqiang, has led the effort to export China's expertise in constructing high-speed trains and tracks. Li has pitched the country's experience building a network to countries such as Britain and Thailand. Chine built a line in Turkey linking the cities of Ankara and Istanbul, which was opened earlier this year.

China finished its first ever high-speed line, between Beijing and Tianjin in 2008. By the end of 2013, an estimated 10,000 km (6,200 miles) of high-speed lines had been constructed.

CSR Corp. will build the trains for the project in Mexico, and the three other companies will work on the train lines. Mexico's government expects the trains to run at a speed of 300 km an hour, and carry 23,000 passengers a day.

Mexico's government opened the project for bidding on August 15, giving interested companies two months to respond. Construction is expected to get underway this year, and bidding documents show that the line is slated to open in 2017.

Although the group was the only bidder, there were reportedly several other companies, such as German engineering group Siemens AG, interested in the project, reports Caixin Online. However, most companies felt that the bidding schedule wasn't long enough and withdrew when they were denied extensions from Mexico's transport ministry. This left the Chinese-Mexican consortium as the remaining sole bidder on the project. The Mexican government is to make a final decision on November 3.

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