GE Transportation (GET) has signed two contracts with China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) valued at $1.4bn, including $350m for exports of locomotives, locomotive sub-assembly kits, service support and railway signalling systems.
The contract also includes a long-term partnership with Tessco Technologies to offer Positive Train Control systems to the North American Rail industry.
GET has also agreed to an additional LOI with MOR, reaffirming both parties' intent to enter into a joint venture to advance high-speed and other rail technologies in the US.
Under the joint venture agreement, any potential high-speed trains or signalling equipment will be sourced from US suppliers, and all final assembly will be performed in the US.
The partnership represents an investment of about $50m in the joint venture, and also advances passenger rail transport through the manufacturing of medium-speed passenger trains and transit rail vehicles for urban areas in the US.
Under the deal with Tessco, GE Transportation will co-produce, market, and sell integrated, turnkey, positive train control and monitoring systems.
The US Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has set a 31 December 2015 deadline to implement PTC in over 7,000 dark territory switch locations in the US, which are not monitored by a signal system.
