Westbahn orders new trains from China, sparking debate

The partially private railway company Westbahn introduced four new trains on Monday. There is now criticism that the double-decker units come from the Chinese manufacturer CRRC. The Chamber of Labor, unions, SPÖ, and the railway industry fear a loss of European value creation and the outflow of tax money. Westbahn points out that a significant part of the value creation still comes from Europe - and that orders from European companies take years.

Controversy over Trains from China at Westbahn

So far, Europe's railway companies have kept the Chinese world market leader CRRC away from Europe. To be better positioned, the French company Alstom even took over Bombardier's rail division in 2021. With a turnover of 15 billion euros at the time, the Europeans remained a distant second worldwide behind CRRC, which made twice as much turnover.

Now, Westbahn is leasing trains from CRRC for ten years and bringing them onto the European tracks. This project is also delayed by over two years compared to the plan - not least because the trains had to be tested for years and over 300,000 km. However, orders from European manufacturers take at least four years, criticized Westbahn.

Westbahn Points to European Value Creation

"Development, design, and essential components come to a significant extent from Austria and Europe. These include seats, doors, brakes, as well as snack machines, key, and security technology," writes Westbahn in a release about the CRRC units leased for ten years. Westbahn co-owner Hans Peter Haselsteiner said at the presentation on Monday: "But it is not a Chinese train, but perhaps half - or slightly more than half - Chinese and the other half European".

That does not calm critics. The Association of the Railway Industry in Austria (VBI) sees "significant questions for the future of the domestic and European railway industry" following the decision of Westbahn. Because "an increased import of rail vehicles from non-EU countries endangers long-term value creation, know-how, and jobs in Austria and Europe. This is a dangerous step backward," writes Anil Rai, Managing Director of the VBI. It is "about the fundamental question of whether Europe wants to shape its industrial future itself or increasingly depend on state-supported providers from third countries."

Criticism of Tax Money Usage and Weakening of Europe's Railway Industry

Like the VBI, the unions PRO-GE and vida, the Chamber of Labor, and the SPÖ also point out that Westbahn receives tax money through the Climate Ticket. "Where public money - keyword Climate Ticket - is involved, there should also be domestic value creation," demands the federal chairman of the production union (PRO-GE), Reinhold Binder. "Collecting Austrian tax money through the Climate Ticket, expanding on the high-quality red-white-red network, and at the same time ordering from a highly subsidized Chinese low-cost provider" is "the wrong signal," says the chairman of the vida railway sector, Gerhard Tauchner. "This is a breach that endangers an Austrian key industry, future jobs, and the crisis resilience of the railway," says Lukas Oberndorfer, head of the Climate, Environment, and Transport department of the AK Vienna.

"We must not allow Chinese cheap imports to threaten the Austrian railway industry. Those who benefit from tax money and public infrastructure should also invest in domestic products," demands SPÖ transport spokesman Wolfgang Moitzi. Chinese trains are "like many other Chinese industrial products, highly subsidized," and there is a threat of displacement of European production as already seen with cars, wind turbines, or photovoltaics. Additionally, Moitzi sees a security risk in Chinese trains.

FPÖ Sees Attack on Economic Location

FPÖ railway and digitalization spokesman Gerhard Deimek sees Westbahn's decision for Chinese trains as a "massive attack on the domestic economic location." This "serves the European market on a silver platter to a state-subsidized Chinese giant and massively weakens the domestic railway industry. This is an open declaration of war on European manufacturers and endangers domestic jobs," writes Deimek. He links the decision to Haselsteiner's closeness to the NEOS and derives "further proof of the Austria-hostility of the Pinks" from it. Haselsteiner brings "Chinese material into the country for profit. Here, value creation is ruthlessly destroyed, and the sell-off of our key industries is advanced. This is the globalist agenda of the NEOS in pure form: profits for the super-rich, unemployment for the domestic population."

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.