Russia interested in Japan bullet train technology

TOKYO, June 28 (Reuters) Russia has expressed an interest in Japan's bullet train service and officials will meet next week to discuss sharing the high-speed train technology, an official said on Thursday.

If the two nations reach an agreement at the talks in Russia they could set up a working group as early as this fall to consider extending the technology to Russia, Kyodo news agency said.

An official from Japan's Trade Ministry confirmed that talks were planned but said the topic was general and no specific decisions have been made.

''Russia wants to introduce bullet trains as part of its overall railroad system, but we still don't know what sort of cooperation we'll be able to provide,'' he said, adding that any sort of high-speed service would likely cover a relatively limited area.

''We're not talking about a high-speed service all along the Siberian railway,'' he added.

Two Japanese consortia built a bullet train service in Taiwan that opened in January, and media reports in February said China had approached Japanese firms on know-how for a high-speed passenger train system between two northern cities.

REUTERS DKS HS1745