By contrast, the cost of metro construction has decreased much more rapidly. Currently, the price of a metro train car is about 6-8 million yuan, which is significantly lower compared to the 13 million yuan a decade ago. This is attributed to competition; on one hand, the owners are various local metro companies with open bidding processes; on the other hand, the intense competition among the six main manufacturers under CNR and CSR (each having three companies producing metro cars) provides sufficient motivation to reduce costs. The rise of these enterprises comes from the "定点" policy by the Ministry of Railways: firstly, they were designated to form joint ventures with foreign companies; secondly, they were designated for assembly. Their marketing relies on relationships, while their technology and brand depend on the endorsement of foreign capital. This has led to some exorbitant prices for EMU procurement, such as entire restrooms costing hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan, and seats costing tens of thousands of yuan, described by insiders as "predatory monopolies". During the bidding process for passenger car purchases by the Ministry of Railways, tender documents sometimes directly specify suppliers for certain components, citing technical reasons. Relevant persons from Longtai mentioned that in 2010, CNR produced 8 short formation EMUs using Knorr-Bremse systems, but later mainly used Longtai products for the 16 long formations. Domestic companies introducing foreign technology can increase costs due to high technology introduction fees. These introductions can be one-time buyouts or sales-based technology usage fees, plus mold development and technical training costs, amounting to over 10% of the selling price. If these expenditures were transparent, most procurements would likely be canceled under public pressure. However, without transparent budgets, all these enormous wastes only become known through media investigations after the fact. In the budget disclosure section of the Ministry of Railways' website, descriptions of expenditures in the billions are extremely vague. In the 2010 settlement, all expenditures of the Ministry of Railways were divided into 15 items, with item 11 involving railway investment: "Transportation expenditure of 1,379,886.9 million yuan, used for railway construction, railway transportation safety supervision, personnel expenses and daily operational expenditures of administrative units under the Ministry of Railways, excluding those related to archives, education, cultural sports, and media." A few dozen characters disclosed the destination of 13.8 billion yuan. Xsolaoyo: Because the budget is incomprehensible Xsolaoyo: Who controls the price of EMUs? Apart from core technologies, many components and even materials of EMUs still need to be procured from abroad, as domestic materials cannot meet technical requirements, and some must use imported foreign raw materials. For example, Japanese film in the interior decoration field costs 400 yuan per square meter because it is the only one that meets the fire-retardant standard for EMUs. The inflation sealing strip for the CRH2 driver's cab door, mainly for sealing purposes, is technically advanced and imported from Japan at a price of over ten thousand yuan. The domestic version costs several thousand yuan, reducing costs, but the quality is not as good as the imported product. All this originates from the obscure bidding system of the Ministry of Railways. The existing approval and certification procedures have been almost abandoned due to the excessive power of the EMU Project Joint Office (referred to as DJB) under the Ministry of Railways, with equipment departments issuing documents or oral notifications for designated assembly. Despite the pressure to reduce costs due to the heavy debt of the Ministry of Railways, such as setting a target of 75% localization rate and reducing costs by 10% annually, prices cannot be cut due to the large number of relationship-based monopolistic enterprises in the entire high-speed rail supply chain. Since China began producing EMUs in 2006, the total cost of CRH2 EMUs has only decreased by 10-20%, while the CRH380 is more expensive due to further increased speed. cang.baidu.com - An automatic washing machine costs over 70,000 yuan; an automatic感应water valve, which can be bought for hundreds or thousands of yuan in the market, costs 10,000 yuan on EMUs; the overall restroom for high-speed trains costs 300,000 yuan for CNR and 1.2 million yuan for CSR; Qingdao Chengguang monopolizes the supply of LCD TVs for CRH2 EMUs, [Ming You Jing Chun Optimization Room QQ Contact 466401604 www.mystseo.com 7595425410 product keywords guaranteed 4 on Baidu homepage for eight thousand a year and a free website! 13422475786] with its 15-inch LCD TV and solid-state LCD TV priced at 13,472.99 yuan including tax, more than twice the market price... Since 2005, a group of high-speed rail suppliers like Ding Shumiao have emerged in Beijing, Qingdao, Changzhou, Wuxi, Shanghai, etc. Many of them lack relevant industry experience but entered fields such as seats, restrooms, cold cabinets, air conditioners, and vacuum toilets through joint ventures with foreign capital, becoming monopolists in the high-speed rail supply chain and squeezing out other veteran suppliers. This wiper priced at 330,000 yuan is a product of Germany's Knorr-Bremse, supplied together with Siemens to CSR. Another imported electric wiper supplied by Changchun Longtai Electromechanical Equipment Co., Ltd. (referred to as Longtai) costs only five or six hundred thousand yuan, mainly supplied to CNR, due to differences in pneumatic and electric systems and interfaces, Siemens EMUs have to be equipped with expensive pneumatic wipers. "A single wiper is equivalent to a BMW car," insiders repeatedly lamented during interviews by Caijing magazine. It is also common for foreign companies to bundle bids, such as Siemens bringing in some foreign suppliers abroad, or even specifying the use of certain brands' components during technology transfer. A person familiar with the quality control of main manufacturers cited the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway as an example: if Changke wins the bid, there are many "定点" specifications for components in hundreds of pages of tender documents, such as using Siemens technology, where many component suppliers like braking systems, vacuum toilets, and wipers are designated, participating from the design stage, making it impossible for the main manufacturer to change them. An insider from a main manufacturer said that products designated by the Ministry of Railways are often expensive, divided into two categories: one officially documented, mainly high-tech products like nine key technologies and ten supporting technologies, whose high prices are relatively reasonable; the other orally designated products, mostly relationship-based companies, with no technological content and exorbitantly priced. This dichotomy is recognized by people from Tangshan, Changke, Sifang, and other main manufacturers. As listed companies, CNR and CSR had a gross profit margin of only 17% and 13% in 2010, with the real profits going to relationship-based suppliers and their stakeholders behind the scenes. Xsolaoyo: Technological Monopoly Among these companies, some are related to officials in the railway system or other fields through family ties, while others have become agents for high-ranking officials in the Ministry of Railways through effort. There are quite a few companies that work hard in the industry and achieve small successes after years of effort, but there are also a significant number who enter solely based on relationships, lacking research and production capabilities, merely profiting from reselling products and technology, yet supported by high-level connections, making it impossible for main manufacturers to replace them. Truly tech-savvy companies must rely on these firms to enter the high-speed rail industry. Although CNR and CSR have been listed companies for a long time, there is only one owner, the Ministry of Railways, leading to a high-priced, intricately intertwined high-speed rail supply chain. Related theme articles: 13422476859 Guangdong Yangjiang University Telecom insiders revealed to the Southern Metropolis Daily, but the EMUs we ride on. Any product installed and used on railway passenger cars.