After the Bulgarian high-speed railway rejected China because the offer was too low, the undertaker Spain had a change.
According to foreign media reports, Bulgaria canceled its tender for the largest recovery plan. The reason is that Spain, which quoted almost twice as much as the Chinese side, currently says that it cannot complete the project within the specified time. So Bulgaria simply announced the cancellation of the high-speed rail project. This means that the huge investment in manpower, material resources and energy in the early stage has been wasted.
Looking back on the whole incident, before that, Bulgaria's order was 20 push-pull electric EMUs and 15 years of maintenance, with an intended price of 610 million euros (4.78 billion yuan), Talgo reported 620 million, and CRRC Sifang directly cut it in half, reporting 310 million yuan (an average of 120 million yuan per train). The low price caused the EU's subsidy suspicion, and then forced the CRRC out of the game.
In this competition for the Bulgarian high-speed rail project, the EU plays a key role, from the EU's point of view, in strict accordance with European standards production, it is difficult to reduce the cost to a level of 46.7% lower than the cost, so the EU suspects that the reason why CRRC can quote such a low price is because it has a huge subsidy behind it.
At the beginning, the Bulgarian government also took a fancy to the strength and offer of CRRC Qingdao Sifang Company, but China's offer of 330 million euros made the other party uncertain, and it was much cheaper than their own budget.
Later, on February 16, the EU launched an investigation into subsidies under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, and on March 26, CRRC finally withdrew the bid, squeezing CRRC out of the bidding circle. After CRRC squeezed out the bidding circle, Spain got the project as it wished.
The Bulgarian high-speed rail project was originally a big deal, and it was planned to use high-speed rail to connect several large cities in the country and drive the economy to take off.
However, the Spanish company Talgo, which won the bid, was unable to deliver 20 bullet trains in 33 months. Before the bidding, the delivery date requested by Bulgaria will definitely tell all bidders, since the Spanish Talgo cannot be delivered, why did it come to make trouble to participate in the bidding and still get the bid?
Therefore, this thing is weird, maybe it was the first to have the purpose of preferring to stir up the yellow than to give it to China, but for Bulgaria, Spain expressed its position before the start of the high-speed railway, which is equivalent to stopping losses for Bulgaria, and if it cannot be completed after the start of construction, it will be a nightmare for Bulgaria.
The problem now is that Spain has stopped building the Bulgarian high-speed railway, and the Chinese company that can successfully complete the project has been kicked out of the high-speed rail project, and now Bulgaria is forced to cancel the high-speed rail project, making jokes and shooting itself in the foot.
Will Bulgaria turn back after hitting the southern wall?
The question is, if Bulgaria has hit the southern wall, is it possible to turn back and find the Chinese side again in the future? This possibility is not impossible.
In fact, China is not the first project to build high-speed rail in Europe, and Bulgaria is not the first project, Turkey's high-speed rail is built by China, and when China's high-speed rail was exported to Turkey for the first time, it suffered a huge loss of 30 billion. Previously, the construction of the Maimai high-speed railway in Saudi Arabia also lost 4 billion.
To put it simply, with the idea of doing business in China, the first business can not make money or even lose money, but the first order establishes trust, and the subsequent business will make back the money lost in the front, after all, with the high-speed rail, there are also China's construction machinery, air conditioning equipment, bridge and tunnel construction, etc. For example, in the past, in Saudi Arabia, due to the good construction of the Maimai high-speed railway, later Saudi Arabia's large-scale infrastructure projects were outsourced to Chinese companies in batches.
Previously, it was not uncommon for people to refuse at first and then turn back to China, typified by Vietnam.
A long time ago, in order to change the status quo of domestic railways, Vietnam sent high-speed rail invitations to China, Japan, and Germany, and finally threw the "hydrangea" to Japan. However, due to the unsatisfactory progress of the project, Vietnam has now approached the Chinese side again.
According to the Vietnam Daily Express, Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment recently said that the country plans to start construction of two high-speed railways by 2030, and will build a high-speed railway that will extend from Hanoi to Lang Son province on the border with China's Guangxi province. Among them, the light rail line of the Jiling - Ha Dong line in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, was undertaken by China Railway Sixth Bureau Group Co., Ltd., which is a landmark project of the "Belt and Road" between China and Vietnam.
The reason why Japan and other countries are unable to meet Vietnam's requirements is mainly because of the supply chain and project costs. At present, high-speed rail is a huge investment project no matter in which country, high-speed rail is a project representing the top level of manufacturing technology, which needs to have a complete system of supply chain technology, mature workers, upstream and downstream construction machinery, bridge construction of a complete set of system support, the world's manufacturing power is one of the few, China is the only from EMU research and development, railway engineering construction, train control technology, power supply technology, railway dispatching technology, high-speed rail network operation and management technology, maglev technology, traction system, A country where all core technologies such as bogies and brakes are controlled in-house.
Bulgaria's high-speed rail, if Spain can't do it, then European countries can hardly find a replacement for Spain at the same time with a system of high-speed rail technology and supporting countries, it may take a number of European countries to complete, so a calculation, Europe's various labor costs and maintenance teams, the cost will be very large.
As the world's largest manufacturing country, China's supply chain is unavoidable by the West, and according to China's high-speed rail technology and overall supply chain capabilities, perhaps only China has the ability to complete the high-speed rail project in Bulgaria within expectations.
Spain, which offers twice as much as China, is not able to complete the project within the stipulated time, and the gap and truth behind it
The 1.2 billion euros previously allocated for the two train purchases are now uncertain. If Bulgaria ultimately fails to meet the targets of the EU's recovery plan (i.e. 55 trains), the funds could be lost and the country's railway modernization plan will be dealt a blow.
This order can only be completed on time and in quantity, and Bulgaria wants to use this fund, or it can only be handed over to CRRC, but at that time it was not at the current price.
The truth behind this incident is:
This quotation actually shows that even if the trade protection of Europe and the United States can be maintained at present, in the long run, more and more countries around the world are likely to use Chinese products in the future, not only in terms of price, but also in terms of performance, technology and engineering efficiency.
Spain's failure means that the protectionist crackdown will not work, which is the result of the combination of the overall industrial system and the industrial chain. This also means that there is a possibility that Bulgaria will eat back grass.
As a matter of fact, a feasible way of thinking is that after Spain wins the bid, it can subcontract to China at the price of 330 million euros quoted by China, and Spain will earn 290 million euros with tears! Bulgaria is not rich, but it has to be the main culprit! Because the EU feels that if China wins the bid alone and the results are good, Western companies will never have a chance to do all similar projects in the future. This outsourcing model ensures that all parties are involved, which can not only ensure the completion of the project, but also make money for everyone, and the leading power is still in the EU, depending on whether the EU can turn this corner.
Author: Wang Xinxi, Senior Reviewer of TMT This article is not reproduced without permission