2 af verdens mest fremgangsrige store lande i disse år – Indien og Kina – satser på jernbaner og har længe gjort det; i grel modsætning til f.eks. Afrika syd for Sahara, hvor både regeringer og bistandsdonorer har udsultet investeringer i jernbanenettet med overbelastede veje som resultat
Two Giants Meet: India Railways and China Railways Compare Notes
IN SHORT
* The Governments of China and India believe in the critical role of railways to promote economic growth and want to expand and modernize their already vast networks
* An Indian delegation recently met with Chinese counterparts to learn from each other through the World Bank’s South to South Experience Exchange Trust Fund
* Discussions covered medium and long term planning to expand the network, including high speed lines, as well as heavy haul freight transport and transportation hubs
STORY
BEIJING, 18th November, 2010: Collectively India Railways and China Railways employ nearly 4 million employees, operate tens of thousands of kilometers of railways, and can move millions of people each day.
Arguably, the two railways drive the economies of the two most populated countries of the world; two railways serving one out of three people on this planet.
On October 24th an eight-member government delegation from India arrived in China, sponsored by the World Bank’s South to South Experience Exchange Trust Fund, to meet with counterparts at the China Ministry of Railways with the aim of learning from each other. The visitors from India included managers, economists, financiers, and engineers.
Although the railways in China and India are already among the largest in the world, both governments are aggressively promoting the expansion and modernization of the respective railways.
Why? Because the governments of each believe that railways play a critical role in the economic growth of these continental size developing countries and do so with reduced environmental impact and resource consumption.
Sharing experience and knowledge with another country facing similar challenges and resolving them in sometimes different ways stimulates innovation and energizes change.
As an active financer and promoter of the development of railways in both China and India, the World Bank is well positioned to convene an authoritative exchange of knowledge using the mechanism of the South-South Experience Exchange Trust Fund, which is particularly suited to such challenges.
Issues covered during weeklong discussions
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