On July 26, 2011, US General Electric Company, one of the biggest multi-industry companies operating technology, manufacture and service products, and Chongqing Machinery and Electronic Holding Co., Ltd. sign a contract of establishing a joint venture company in Liangjiang New Area to supply local electronic equipment for Chongqing rail transit construction.

According to the agreement, the two parties will set up a joint venture company mainly producing medium and low voltage controller switching equipment. Chongqing Machinery and Electronic Holding Co., Ltd. holds 51% shares and US General Electric Company holds 49% shares. The joint venture company will primarily provide solution methods to power supply and electronic technologies to Chongqing rail transit market, developing into a producer with an annual production capability of 1-billion-dollar electronic equipment and system and a power solution provider. It will further expand the export of its products while meeting the need of electronic equipment in Chongqing and the southwest region.

The officially operation of Metro Line 1 at the end of July 2011 is the direct spur for the speeding up of their cooperation. However, the main cause that GE and Chongqing Machinery and Electronic Holding Co., Ltd. focus on the joint venture in Liangjiang New Area is the potential market of the highly developed Chongqing rail transit. In addition, another attraction for GE is the newly built one-hundred-million rail transit project and its capacity of auxiliary facilities.

Since the establishment of Liangjiang New Area, the one-hundred-billion rail transit project has been proposed. By 2020, it's expected to boast an annual production of 500 city rails and 200 high-speed trains and CRHs, maintain and repair 200 rail transit vehicles, and become an important base of producing rail transit equipment with an annual output value of 100 billion yuan.

The article was first published in CQNews.