Opening remarks, as prepared, of Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) from today’s hearing entitled, “The Impacts of State-Owned Enterprises on Public Transit and Freight Rail Sectors”:
A modern transportation infrastructure system means a strong, secure America.
Our public transit and freight rail systems are integral to our larger transportation network. Technology modernization, which has been a priority of mine, drives improvements in safety and congestion, and creates efficiencies.
However, as we adopt transportation technologies, safety and cybersecurity must remain top priorities.
Earlier this month, the federal government released a list of 55 national critical functions. It is no surprise that these functions include transport by rail and mass transit, along with transport by air, road, vessel, and pipeline: all areas this committee is responsible for overseeing. Any disruption or corruption to these functions or to our transportation network as a whole would have a debilitating effect.
This is why today we are studying the effects of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on our infrastructure network. SOEs are either wholly or partially owned by a government and receives government funding to subsidize its operations. The subsidies allow SOEs to gain U.S. market share by under-bidding on contracts.
In addition, as an extension of a government, an SOE could carry out political, economic, and militaristic interests of that state government.
Make no mistake, we must investigate the motivation and intent of SOEs entering our infrastructure markets. China in particular possesses sophisticated capabilities and has a track record of committing economic espionage focused on data collection of trade secrets and intellectual property.
Today, we are focused on entrants to the rolling stock market and the impacts of these entrants on the public transit and freight rail sectors. Concerns have been raised about these recent entrants, in particular whether or not their ownership or access to government subsidies gave them an unfair advantage.
One of these recent entrants, the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) successfully won contracts from public transit agencies in major metropolitan cities across the country to provide rail cars with significantly lower bids than the competition. Concerns exist that CRRC will also expand to the freight rail sector and undermine U.S companies.
This Committee plays an integral role in ensuring the safety and cybersecurity of the entire transportation network. I look forward to hearing about possible solutions to ensure we protect U.S. interests and maintain the security of our transportation systems.
