中国南车与北车合并为中车

China's top two bullet train makers will merge into a new company to avoid "in-fighting" during exploration of the global market.

China North Railway will be merged into China South Railway through a stock swap agreement between the two companies.

Ji Jialun is a professor from the School of Traffic and Transportation at Beijing Jiaotong University.

"There are many railway giants in the world, but only one for each country. In China we have two to join the competition. It's not suitable for a country as a whole. The merger will form a joint force to optimize our brand, and mainly expand the brand benefits of China's high-speed railway."

China built the world's longest high-speed train network in less than a decade and has been seeking to export its rail technology. The two firms however have fiercely competed against each other to win international deals.

The merger comes 14 years after the two were split in 2000 to promote competition.