BEIJING, Nov 26 (Reuters) - French engineering group Alstom (ALSO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) has won a $12.25 billion share of a contract for a high-speed rail link connecting China's capital Beijing with its financial centre of Shanghai, state media said on Friday.
The total contract was worth 130 billion yuan ($15.72 billion), the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The report, which was not immediately confirmed by Alstom, did not say over what period the money would be spent.
"The Beijing-Shanghai link attracted bids from French, German and Japanese companies. After fierce competition, the French company Alstom became the biggest winner, winning a big contract worth 100 billion yuan," Xinhua said.
Alstom was not available for comment.
The company has in past clinched orders worth about $614 million on average from China each year and has said its goal was to double that value.
China had been expected to favour traditional train technology for the link over magnetic levitation trains, whose price tag was likely to run to $40 billion for the 1,300 km (800-mile) railway line.
The country has been pushing to modernise its ageing rail network, which is being increasingly strained by rapid economic growth.
German engineering giant Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and Canada's Bombardier (BBDb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) were among the foreign companies hoping to sell traditional train technology for the project. |