International Railway Journal - July 2008 - (Page 29)

Korea Exports surge ahead This year will be a landmark for Hyundai Rotem as railway exports will exceed Korean domestic sales for the first time. The company expects exports to dominate from now on as it fights to win business in new markets around the world, reports David Briginshaw from Seoul. W HILE Korea continues to invest in rail transport, it is a fairly small country and will never provide a market large enough for a company as ambitious as Hyundai Rotem. Turnover for rolling stock sales reached $US 900 million last year, and is forecast to jump to $US 1.3 billion this year. The ratio of domestic sales to exports was 50:50 in 2007 and is expected to be 40:60 this year. “Within three to five years, 70% of our sales will be overseas,” predicts Mr Lee Sang-Kil, senior executive vice-president, total rail systems, with Hyundai Rotem. The company will open its first overseas rolling stock plants later this year. They are in Turkey and Philadelphia, United States, and the Turkish plant will trade as Eurotem. “We have already started some assembly work in Turkey,” Lee reveals. In India, Hyundai has a tie-up with BMEL to assemble cars for the Delhi metro, and half the fleet on order is being completed there. Hyundai Rotem is steadily breaking new ground as it wins orders around the world. Some of its latest contracts include: 183 intercity dmu cars for Irish Rail (Japanese joint venture) 76 dmu cars for a suburban line in Tunis, Tunisia (Japanese joint venture) 35 two-car emus for Wellington, New Zealand (Japanese joint venture) 28 emu cars for Almaty, Kazakhstan 14 six-car trains for the new metro Line 4 in São Paulo, Brazil 32 fully-automated light metro cars for the Vancouver Skytrain in Canada 75 double-deck commuter coaches for Boston, United States 121 double-deck commuter coaches for Southern California Regional Rail Authority’s (SCRRA) Metrolink network in Los Angeles, and 120 emu cars for Septa in Philadelphia. In order to be successful in the American commuter rail market, Hyundai Rotem had to design a doubledeck coach. “We developed an energy management system to protect the driver in the event of a crash,” says Lee. “We needed some special shock absorbing components, some of which we developed ourselves. We will verify the design with a mock-up this year, and the first cars for SCRRA should be ready in March next year. The crash management system will be installed on a second batch of 90 KTX II cars to be David Briginshaw talks to Lee Sang-Kil of Hyundai Rotem during the recent WCRR Congress in Seoul. IRJ July 2008 29

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - July 2008

International Railway Journal - July 2008 Contents This Month News Transit News Market News/Technology News News Analysis Conference Report Korean Railways Face a Bright Future Korean Exports Surge Ahead Ready to Roll in China Velaro Shows Eastern Promise Are You Sitting Comfortably? Compin Meets New Challenges The Fabric of Society Grinding Out a Result Rendezvous Full Contact List The Last Word

International Railway Journal - July 2008

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