Post #1468353

2026-03-22 17:49 UTC

@lewd I've heard a lot of stuff, both good and bad out of China and their railways. Though a common refrain is that the highspeed stock is not too comfortable, I'll reserve my judgement on the ride and service quality until I try them out myself, probably in a couple years. On the North America side of things, sometimes it's a case of "buy replacement infrastructure from China or wait several more years for your domestic or closer suppliers to clear their backlog, with prices likely to rise".

Replies (2)

@allen@rail.chat 2026-03-22 17:49

@lewd British Columbia's Chinese electric ferry order is a case in point. https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/06/10/bc-ferries-picks-chinese-shipyard-to-build-four-new-major-vessels/

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@rey@toot.cat 2026-03-22 19:04

@allen @lewd we ended up with CRRC trains for the Orange and Red Lines in Boston, replacing 40- and 55-year-old rolling stock respectively. the shells and probably most of the parts are manufactured in China, satisfying the "lowest bidder" constraint, then final assembly etc happens in a bespoke factory in Massachusetts, satisfying the "must create local jobs" constraint. CRRC simply undercut every other manufacturer in the bidding process and agreed to the local jobs condition, and then it turns out that everything is extremely behind schedule, over budget, and also has kinda uncomfortable seats we've had multiple production stalls due to customs clearance issues... most recent one lasted about a year and was due to inadequate forced labor disclosure paperwork, resulting in the layoff of most of the Massachusetts workers, but this has recently been resolved. (I'm not sure what resolved it, but it feels like the kind of corrupt government impasse that is soothed with a modest amount of cash. such is life with That Fucking Guy etc) I do not expect these trains to survive more than 20 years

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