The Chinese government signed contracts Tuesday valued at a little more than $87 million with two companies for work that will be done in the Midlands.

Pennsylvania-based Harsco Corp. was awarded a $68 million contract with China’s Ministry of Railways for 11 railroad track maintenance machines that will be produced by its Harsco Track Technologies division in West Columbia. The deal is the company’s largest single contract.

Chicago-based ImageMap signed a $19.3 million contract with the Chinese to provide nine high-speed, laser-powered video systems to measure track geometry. The work will be done at the ImageMap Technical Center in Columbia.

The ImageMap contract is the largest ever for that company as well, president Roger Tracy said in a telephone call from Beijing.

Financing arrangements through the Export-Import Bank are expected to be completed within the next four to six weeks.

The contracts followed a year and a half of negotiations that received support from the U.S. Department of Commerce and S.C. state and congressional leaders.

The final contracts were signed in Beijing with U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans, U.S. Ambassador to China Clarke Randt and company officials looking on.

The signing was anticipated after Gov. Mark Sanford and state Secretary of Commerce Bob Faith met last week with Deputy Director Chen Juemin at the Ministry of Railroads. Sanford and Faith witnessed the signing of a letter of intent between the companies and the Chinese.

The contracts are a positive step toward reducing the U.S.-China trade imbalance and preserving U.S. manufacturing jobs.

The U.S. trade deficit with China hit $103 billion last year and could top $130 billion this year.

Included in the Harsco order are nine production grinders, large machines that repair long distances of track; one switch and crossing grinder, designed to repair the rail where two tracks converge; and a Stoneblower, which is used to realign and stabilize track. The Stoneblower will be the first in China.

The machines will be manufactured over the next three years.

The contract is expected to significantly increase Harsco’s local work force. The company currently has 400 to 500 employees in West Columbia at any given time.

Harsco Track president Robert Newman has been reluctant to say how many jobs would be added until the contract was signed. Newman was in China for the signing and could not be reached for comment.

But U.S. Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., in a letter to Sanford urging him to support the deal, said it could create up to 100 jobs.

The contract with ImageMap also could increase its local employment, Tracy said.

ImageMap will have to deliver the systems within 13 months. ImageMap currently has about 25 to 30 employees in its technical center.

By way of perspective, China is getting systems for nine track measurement vehicles, and there are only about 12 in the entire U.S. rail system, Tracy said. “It ensures our sales level for 2004.”

The company’s systems are mounted on railroad cars and measure track alignment, surface and curvature, said David Ford, vice president and general manager in Columbia.

The systems primarily help ensure the safety of the rails, he said. They also can reduce overall maintenance and help the trains run more efficiently.

DeMint worked with the Chinese Embassy and the U.S. Department of Commerce to encourage the sale.

In a letter sent to Chinese Ambassador Yang Jiechi in September 2002, DeMint stated, “This project is a very important opportunity to promote the business and economic cooperation between our two countries.”

The Chinese ambassador forwarded the letter to government officials in China. Harsco Track officials confirmed the letter made its way to the negotiating table in China later that month, DeMint’s office said.

Harsco Track Technologies has 1,000 employees in South Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Australia and England.

Harsco Corp. is a $2 billion diversified industrial services and engineered products company employing more than 17,500 people in more than 40 countries.