Word: transport
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...travel market between the two capitals. Opened in 2007, a high-speed rail link between Madrid and Barcelona that cut intercity travel time to 21⁄2 hours has grabbed 50% of that market. Similar effects have been seen in Paris-Lyon, Paris-Brussels and Hamburg-Berlin transport links, where domination by fast trains has led airlines to reduce or drop services altogether. "When travel time is two hours or less, high-speed rail wins 90% market share [against] airplanes," says SNCF's Faugère. "It's little wonder airlines like Air France are considering starting their own high...
...smaller players are making money while the state-owned giant is not. "What's significant in this isn't the element of competition alone, but the more efficient business models new players brought to old markets," says Alain Bonnafous, a rail expert at Lyon's Laboratory of Transport Economics. "Better organization and increasing return on investment makes all the difference...
...competitive reasons been compelled to open factories on the mainland, taking advantage of a liberalization of Taipei's restrictions on such investments. More than a million people from Taiwan now live in China in industrial centers near Shanghai in the east and in Guangdong province in the south. Direct transport links greatly enhance efficiency and lower costs of doing business across the strait, which could help a Taiwan economy that has struggled in recent years to find new sources of growth. In addition, a warmer China-Taiwan relationship alleviates a thorny diplomatic and security problem for the U.S. Its historic...
...Indeed, direct links appear to be boosting profits. Eric Kuei, general manager of Fruit Taiwan Corp., says the time to transport his pineapples and other produce to Shanghai from Taiwan has been cut from seven days to three, which means more time on Chinese store shelves and a 20% increase in profits. "After Ma got elected, everything's more convenient for businessmen," says Kuei. In a recent survey conducted by Taiwan's CommonWealth magazine, 60% of the CEOs questioned said that liberalized cross-strait relations were improving Taiwan's economic competitiveness. This positive outlook has helped fuel a 40% surge...
...Moscow has reacted angrily to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's attempts in recent years to gain NATO membership and to a recent agreement in March under which the European Union would help modernize Ukraine's aging gas-transport system. "This agreement is Exhibit A in Moscow's collection [of complaints]," says Trenin. "It's evidence that Europe is concluding bilateral deals with Ukraine that undermine Russia's interests...