German Halfen under railway probe
- By Li Xiao
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 1, 2012
Railway authorities have started investigations into substandard equipment used on Chinese high-speed railways, which is provided by a German manufacturer. Cast-in channels allegedly produced by Halfen Group, a German railway products maker, have recently been reported to be made in Beijing.
![Halfen cast-in channels used on the Hunan section of Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway [Chongqing Morning Post]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120601/000cf1bdd24511326b9301.jpg "Halfen cast-in channels used on the Hunan section of Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway [Chongqing Morning Post]") |
| Halfen cast-in channels used on the Hunan section of Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway [Chongqing Morning Post] |
An informant video clip showed that the zinc coating of the so-called Halfen cast-in channels was plated in Chinese factories, despite Halfen's claims that all its products are made in Germany.
One of the staff of Beijing Jinyutonghui Reduxin Co. Ltd admitted that the company was now in charge of plating zinc coating on Halfen cast-in channels. From E-Town in Beijing to Sanhe City of north China's Hebei Province, there are many other domestic factories doing processing work for the German manufacturer.
According to the insider, almost all of the Halfen cast-in channels allegedly imported from Germany are made in China without undergoing the rigorous zinc plating process.
In their visits to the Hunan section of the Shanghai-Kunming line, reporters found the zinc coating on the Halfen cast-in channels had began to chalk, which, according to an engineering staff member, had become a frequent problem in Halfen cast-in channels. It is said that the zinc coating will no longer be rust-proof when the chalking rate exceeds 50 percent.
According to two testing reports provided by China Academy of Railway Sciences and China National Center for Quality Supervision and Test of Fixed Fire-fighting Systems and Fire-resisting Building Components, the tested Halfen cast-in channels are substandard in technical indicators including fatigue property and fire resistance time, which poses potential dangers to the Chinese high-speed railway system.
China paid more than 80 million yuan (US$12.6 million) for Halfen cast-in channels used on the Shanghai-Kunming line. Halfen cast-in channels represent about 70 percent of Chinese high-speed railway market, accounting for nearly one billion yuan.
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