The trains are being developed by ContiTech's key customer, Bombardier Transportation, the world's largest manufacturer of rail equipment headquartered in Berlin. Its Chinese joint venture Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST) is in charge of delivering the highspeed trains. With the designations CRH1C and CRH1D, the vehicles are based on the latest BOMBARDIER ZEFIRO highspeed technology. The first parts will be delivered to China starting in the fall of 2010. All the trains are to have been built by 2014.
China intends to bolster its position in rail vehicle technology with increasingly efficient highspeed trains. With speeds of up to 380 km/h, the CRH1 has a central role to play in this strategy. In line with Chinese government plans, the railway network is to be dramatically expanded by 2020. To achieve this, five trillion yuans (around 548 billion euros) are being invested. This is all part of the government's plan to beef up the economy over the long run. At the moment the Chinese railway system is seen to be highly congested.