Siemens, Marubeni seal tie-up to bid for rail project in PH
BEIJING, China – German conglomerate Siemens AG and Japanese industrial giant Marubeni Corporation have formed partnership in their bid submission for a rail network project in the Philippines, Siemens Regional Chief Executive Officer Dr Armin Bruck has disclosed.
“We submitted our first tender – together with Marubeni, so we can see that coming. We’re quite positive that we will become big player in mobility solutions in the Philippines also,” he said.
Pending discussions with government and as bound by non-disclosure agreements, the German firm executive has opted not to flesh out details yet of the rail project that they had participated in.
Beyond that, he indicated “we (through Siemens Philippines) are also in discussion with government on other railway projects, and we have been doing that for quite some time.”
As opined by Siemens Global CEO Joe Kaeser, the horrendous traffic in Metro Manila can be judiciously solved if there is an efficient mobility solution, such as railway system, that can seamlessly move people across destinations.
“Manila is one of the biggest cities in the world and mobility is very critical component of a city’s system. So I am hoping there will soon be solution to Manila traffic,” he said, expounding that such could hopefully gain headway in the US$1.0-trillion infrastructure development roadmap under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that China has been spearheading for the world.
The continuing talks that the company has been advancing is also for the mobility solution as well as propounded energy management systems for the blueprinted Clark Global City – which in time, is envisioned to be connected to the main metropolis of Metro Manila via railway system.
At the BRI International Summit at the China World Hotel, Sabrina Soussan chief executive officer of Siemens Mobility Division, has emphasized that their company delivers “the most efficient technology and we make trains intelligent to provide ease of mobility of people who are travelling from points A to B.”
She added that their trains similarly provide connectivity, as “we deliver entertainment system in the train, and also real-time information to the passenger,” noting that these features “induce attractiveness to our trains.”
Soussan expounded that the company is likewise into development of algorithms “that, when there are issues, we can already detect even before these can affect the operations of the train.”
Siemens has developed major train systems in various parts of the world, the latest one had been in Spain and an ongoing project is the Shanghai highspeed railway system in China.