China and Japan -- the biggest and most advanced railway rivals in Asia -- are vying for the right to build and invest in a number of multi-million dollar railway projects in the US.

The two countries -- which have lately been competing to build and finance railway projects in India, Thailand and Indonesia -- are taking their high-speed railway race to the US, says the Financial Times.

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Some big US transit contracts have gained momentum lately, and both China and Japan have jumped to offer financial backing and technological know-how.

Last year, the China Railway and Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) won a $567 million contract to build some 284 rail cars for Boston's Red and Orange lines. The company's subsidiary China Railway International USA continued to make inroads into the US in September this year, this time by winning a contract to develop a high-speed train between Las Vegas and Los Angeles. 

Japanese companies are meanwhile looking into two huge railway deals in the US.   One is an ambitious project to connect Washington and New York in 60 minutes using Japan's magnetic levitation trains, an endeavor for which Japan has already committed to an initial $5 billion investment. The other is the Texas high-speed railway project, which seeks to link Dallas and Houston with Japanese shinkansen bullet trains.

No longer just a race for economic gain, the railway rivalry between Japan and China has come to symbolize a feverish -- and at times not too friendly -- contest between the two countries for geopolitical eminence and technological supremacy.

"Japan has more experience building high-speed rails," says railway expert Sun Zhang of Tongji University in Shanghai.  "But we have built out 10,800 kilometers of high-speed railways over the past 12 years.  Our high-speed rail is cheaper because of large-scale production and labor costs."

Japanese railway executives like Hitachi's Toshiaki Higashihara, on the other hand, insist that Japanese railways are a safer, better investment than their Chinese counterparts in the long run. 

"With China creating a gigantic state-owned company, they may be able to manufacture large volumes at low cost," the Japanese executive says. "But once it comes to initial pricing, it may turn to a war of attrition."

Some analysts say that all this may just be the beginning of a heated, long-drawn out competition between the two nations for domination of the railway markets in the famously automobile-crazy US.

In an interview with Future Structure Magazine, Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said partnerships with foreign companies like CRRC and Hitachi have become necessary for American transit authorities.

"High speed rail isn't built in our country," Morris points out, "so most of the people with experience are from other countries."   

CRRC vice president Yu Weping agrees, saying the US railway market offers high-speed rail companies huge opportunities for expansion.  Yu rides New York's aging subway system each time he is in the country, and he notices the creaking jostle of the old subway cars along the tracks.   

"I can't help thinking about when we can replace all these noisy old subway trains," he told the Boston Globe recently. "After leading the world for 100 years, US subway and train systems need upgrading."

TagsChina-Japan relations, China Railway International Group, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, high-speed rail, US, High-speed train