Austria introduces Chinese-made trains despite competition concerns • FRANCE 24 English

On this platform at the Vienna Central Station, a newcomer has come to challenge the Old Guard. The Panda recently became the first Chinese-made train to offer long-distance travel on European railways. Inside, everything is brand new, and commuters are presented with a series of innovative gadgets like this system to secure their luggage or this QR code to help them check in. a modern and functional feel that’s well appreciated by Austrian travelers. It’s perfect. It’s very comfortable. I take it all the time and it’s new. But the Panda’s main selling point is its price. Only €17 million compared to 20 million on average for a Europeanmade highspeed train. A bargain for private Austrian company Westb, which says it’s satisfied with the purchase. Yet critics are denouncing unfair competition with Beijing subsidizing over 30% of the pandas construction costs. We all know that China’s government strongly supports its industry. I think we need to act on a European level to prevent dumping against our companies. We must support and protect our employees. According to this lawmaker, Austria’s public rail sector, which employs 30,000 people, is now under threat. A message echoed by the country’s largest union which recently called on Westbond to stop purchasing Chinese trains. It’s not just about unfair competition or job losses. This is a security and a European sovereignty issue. Westbond meanwhile says European trains remain too costly and their delivery too slow making the Panda deal too good to turn down.

Austria has become the first European country to operate Chinese-made “Panda” trains for long-distance travel, praised by commuters for comfort and innovation and bought at a lower cost than European models. Critics, including lawmakers and rail unions, warn of unfair competition due to Chinese subsidies and potential threats to European jobs and sovereignty, while the private operator Westbahn defends the purchase as cost-effective and efficient.
#Austria #China #trains

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40 comments

  2. 作为一个中国人，我求求欧洲的政府好好补贴一下欧洲的跑车，然后低价卖到中国来。求求你们了，谢谢。

  4. 如果欧洲能将你们的那些跑车，兰博基尼、保时捷、奔驰、宝马、奥迪，这些高端的车辆，通过政府大力补贴，低价卖到中国，你们仍然能够占领中国市场。

  7. CCP is using Grey Warfare perfectly as it written in the CCP’s manifesto.
    CCP subsidies are anti competitive. Also everything made in China has a kill switch and data logging back to the CCP.

  8. I hope one day Europeans would consider this is humiliating and we will compete harder and even compete in China's own market, not that oh this is only because China is cheating and we're closing our market for them.

  14. But the Europeans flood China with European-branded goods.

    The cclonizers' mentality is too insane they need to be confined in a sanctuary of crazy people.

  15. A similar situation happened in Croatia. China ended up under bidding European companies to build a bridge. Not only did china get the contract, but they built it on time, within budget and they built it as per European standards. Which means during the building process, it passes inspections and were up to European safety standards. So people can’t really say Chinese built infrastructure is tofu, clearly when they’ve built infrastructure for foreign nations, it’s always built up to local countries standards.

  19. Until Chinese produced warm down jacket at affordable price we Nepalese never dreamt of wearing warm jacket during biting winter. European and Japanese jackets were ten times expensive than Chinese one. Europeans Japanese and American businesses have had enough profits until China stepped in!!!

  32. Big Mistake Austria- big mistake.

    You should have bought them from Germany's Siemens OR France's Alstom- their track record is reputable

  34. Chinese made train = $17 millions
    EU made train = $20 millions

    Chinese CEO’s salary package/yr = $1 million
    EU CEO’s salary package/yr = $5 millions

    Hence, it’s the Chinese CEO that subsidized the train, not Chinese government.

  35. 我不是一个种族主义者，也不歧视女性！但是你们欧洲有很多女性领导人~~~那真是灾难~她们什么都不懂~

  38. 我们中国也很喜欢你们国家的政府能够补贴你们的企业把东西卖给中国，最好就不要钱是最好的，中国人很乐意接受。

  39. Experiencing the best in class service is also a labor right. Once you know what you love, you can design better businesses. Building walls makes myopia even more devastating.

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