[朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡-The red train
节选自【经济学人】 April, 2019
翻译练习：青澄青果
[朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡-The red train blues
A giant Chinese train-maker's push abroad is running out of steam.
中车集团海外发展计划暂时搁浅
Like many other towns with an industrial heritage, the transformation of a factory that had stood derelict for decades into a shiny modern manufacturing site might seem a welcome development. But in Springfield, Massachusettes, arrival of a Chinese train-maker has hit the buffers. It is not that Springfield has no history of train-making; two centuries ago it built some of the first American-made railway carriages to replace British imports. The need for a local manufacturing base is that led CRRC, the world's biggest producer of locomotive and rolling stock, to set up shop there in 2017. Since then it has been attacked by the press as a threat to American jobs and national security. The firm was subsequently clobbered with tariffs on imported parts, and recently denied an exemption. Lawmakers in Washington, DC, are now trying to prevent federal funds from being spent on its trains.
和其它工业老镇一样，从几十年被遗忘废弃到建立起靓丽的现代化生产基地可以说是个可喜的发展。不过，在马萨诸塞州斯普林的一家中国火车制造商的到来却遭遇了阻力。原因并非是由于斯普林没有火车制造的工业基础，事实上正是两个世纪前在此生产的首批机车取代了从英国进口。基于美国市场对机车车辆的需求，世界最大的机车车辆制造商中车集团2017年在此建立了分厂。不过也是从那时开始媒体就不断攻击中车。中车自此开始屡遭打击，进口的零部件要加征关税，最近的免税申请还被否决。另一方面华盛顿的立法者也在试图阻止联邦资金拨款购买中车的产品。
[朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡-The red train blues
Some of the hostility is down to CRRC's sheer size. Founded in 2015 from the merger of China's two biggest train manufacturers, CRRC controls over 90% of the Chinese railway-market-which also happens to be world's biggest. With its domestic business cornered, the company set its sights on expansion abroad. America is an especially attrractive market, owing to its preference for customized train, which fetch a premium over the off-the-yard variety favored elsewhere in the world. Thanks to a renewed interest in rail travel, particularly among America's car-less young, it is also fast-growing. Since 2014 the company has won four big contracts in America for subway carriages. It delivered its first American-built train in December.
敌意部分来自对中车规模的恐慌。中车由中国两个最大火车制造商于2015年合并而成，占有中国火车市场（全球最大）90%的份额。随着国内市场饱和，中车把眼光投向了海外市场。其中美国市场尤其抢眼，因为它更钟情于价格高于标准机车的定制机车，而世界其他国家多采用标准机车。另外也归因于人们（尤其是那些不断庞大的无车族）对于乘坐火车旅行的兴趣回归。中车自2014年来拿下了美国四个地铁车辆的大单。去年12月中车首次交付了在美生产的第一台火车。
[朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡-The red train blues
CRRC's manoeuvres have spooked its Western rivals. Siemens and Alstom have cited the threat posed by the Chinese firm's overseas expansion in defence of the attempted merger of their railway divisions, which the European Commission last month vetoed because it feared it would hurt competition. Erik Olson of the Rail Security Alliance， a campaign group made up of American freight-wagon builders and their suppliers, claims that CRRC threatens to wipe out his members' businesses through predatory pricing, just as he reckons the company did in Australia after it set up shop there. Add labor shortages and protectionist "Buy America" rules, which will soon force train-makers to source 70% of their components from American suppliers, and the market suddenly looks far less appealing.
中车的战略惊动了它的对手。西门子和阿尔斯通多次提及中车海外扩张所带来的威胁来抵制中车试图收购其铁路业务部门的举动，而欧盟委员会基于可能造成的竞争损害而否决了中车的此购并计划。铁路安全联盟是一家美国车辆制造厂商和供应商组成的参与全球业务竞争的联盟，该联盟的奥尔森指出中车会使用掠夺性价格驱逐联盟成员，就像中车在澳大利亚建厂后的所作所为一样。对于中车而言，美国市场顿时成为了鸡肋，既面临劳动力短缺，还要遵循在美购买规则（要求至少70%的零部件采购美国本土制造产品）。
[朝花夕拾】-【经济学人】每日打卡-The red train blues
Mr Olson believes that carriages made by the firm and fitted with CCTV could be combined with facial-recognition technology to help the Chinese government track individuals. A fantasy, perhaps, but a real enough fear for CRRC to insist that it complies with all of America's rules about cyber-security. All this means that CRRC's overseas expansion is nowhere near on track. This rough ride is causing CRRC to turn its attention back to China. It says it may soon quit the American market for freight cars. The firm has quietly dropped a target to double its share of orders from abroad to 20% by 2021. Better, it seems, to concentrate on winning orders for a coming glut of new high-speed lines in China.
奥尔森还指出由中车生产的车辆装有监控和人脸识别系统，会用于监控美国乘客。虽然这个指控听着不着边际，不过拿出来给中车扣帽子说它没遵守美国的网络安全法已经够受了。这些种种使得中车的海外扩张计划搁浅。中车不得不把注意力重新引回国内。中车可能会很快放弃美国机车车辆制造市场。中车已经悄然放弃了到2021年截至海外订单翻倍到占比业务20%的扩张计划。看来随着中国国内铁路线路的急剧伸延，中车聚焦国内市场的策略可能才是上策。
