Siemens confident of Maglev train deal with China

Beijing, June 22 : German industrial giant Siemens A.G. said on Thursday it was confident a deal could be reached with China to extend a high-speed magnetic rail line, but it did not say when an agreement would be signed.

''I am very confident that we will come to a (positive) conclusion,'' Richard Hausmann, chief executive of Siemens' operations in China, told Reuters.

''We are negotiating very intensively, but I can not say when'' a deal would be reached, said Hausmann.

Siemens and German steel firm ThyssenKrupp A.G. are leading a consortium that wants to extend a magnetic levitation train track at Shanghai by 160 km (100 miles) to Hangzhou.

Earlier this month German media reported that the project could be scrapped.

The current 30 km track links Shanghai airport and the city centre.

In 2003, China became the first country in the world to get such a train, which travels at speeds of up to 430 km an hour.

Reuters