Fresh from beating China in a $15 billion rail contract in India, Japan now aims to sell its bullet trains to a high-speed line being planned between Singapore and the Malaysian capital. The project would open a new market for companies from Hitachi Ltd. to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
The government supports such a bid, Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii told reporters Tuesday in Tokyo. Cooperation between the government and business leaders was crucial in clinching the deal with India last week, he said.
Japan, which built the world's first high-speed train more than half a century ago, is stepping up efforts to export its bullet-train technology to meet a pledge by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to triple infrastructure exports to ¥30 trillion by 2020.