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Prototype next-generation bullet train unveiled last year by East Japan Railway. China is in talks with Japanese firms about potentially lucrative orders for advanced bullet train technology for a new high-speed link to its northern cites, a report said Monday. [AFP]

Tokyo - China is in talks with Japanese firms about potentially lucrative orders for advanced bullet train technology for a new high-speed link to northern cites, a report said Monday.

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The Chinese railways ministry has approached companies including East Japan Railway Co., Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. and Hitachi Ltd. about high-speed rail technology suitable for extremely low temperatures, the Nikkei daily said.

Japanese firms may win sizeable orders from China over the project if the deal is concluded, the business daily said, quoting unnamed sources close to the talks.

The planned 950-kilometre (590-mile) railway will run between the northern cities of Harbin and Dalian, where temperatures can plummet to minus 40 Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) during the winter.

The Chinese ministry envisions a 300 kilometre-per-hour train travelling the route, about as fast as a Japanese bullet train, that would be able to operate at temperatures of minus 50 Celsius.

Japanese bullet trains, known as Shinkansen in Japan, can operate at minus 25 Celsius.

The three firms -- East Japan Railway, Kawasaki Heavy and Hitachi -- declined to confirm or deny the report.

"We are not in a position to comment on the reported Chinese request," an East Japan Railway spokesman said.

The Nikkei said China was expected to have also approached European and US firms about possible technical assistance.

China plans to build a 7,000 kilometer high-speed rail network by around 2010, but orders to foreign firms, including in Japan, have been limited as Beijing has opted to use its own rolling stock and technology on major lines.