Investment in railways: India, China disputes to boost chances of European firms;

NEW DELHI:Madrid-based Talgo has plans to bring high speed trains to India in the next few months. Talgo's aim is to seize the Asian market gradually, especially in the background of the major contender China's relations with India over border and maritime issues turning cold in recent times.

Germany’s Siemens and France’s Alstom also face stiff competition from Chinese State-run CRRC Corp globally.

"The spats between India and China give Talgo an advantage over CRRC as India’s Government aggressively pursuing a railway modernization drive in the country”, said the Washington Post. The paper quoted Chief Executive Jose Maria Orioi Fabra as saying, “We’re open to any possible approach, partnership or projects related to the construction and maintenance of train technology in India.”

This development comes in the wake of the Indian Gvernment drawing up a blueprint for the expansion and modernisation of Asia's one of the largest rail network estimated to cost over a 100 billion dollars. This plan includes nine corridors for trains with "semi high-speed' of up to 200 km an hour.