The Ministry of Railways (MOR) was a constituent department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
The ministry was responsible for passenger services, regulation of the rail industry, development of the rail network and rail infrastructure in mainland China. The ministry was also in charge of the operations of China Railway which manages the railway bureaux and companies in mainland China.
On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the Ministry of Transport (safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and China Railway Corporation (construction and management), in part addressing concerns about calls for independent supervision of the rail industry. It was dissolved that year.
History
The Ministry of Railways' predecessor was the Qing and the Republican Ministry of Posts and Communications.
The Ministry's railway building was important in China's national industrialization campaigns, mass mobilization, and military logistics.[1]: 115 Academic Elisabeth Köll writes that during the Mao era, the Ministry's railways "represented the speed, economic efficiency, punctuality, discipline, technological advances, professionalism, dedication, and heroism necessary to promote the ideals of the party and the government at large."[1]: 115
In 1989, the state took assets out of the Ministry of Railways and incorporated them to form a state-owned enterprise, the China Railway Engineering Corporation.[1]: 114–115
On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the Ministry of Transport (safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and China Railway Corporation (construction and management),[2] in part addressing concerns about calls for independent supervision of the rail industry. The last minister was Sheng Guangzu.[3]
Rail bonds
MOR, acting as a corporation in the debt market, has sold 60 billion yuan of bonds in 2007.
For the year 2009, MOR planned to sell at least 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) worth of construction bonds to finance a large expansion of the country's rail network.[citation needed]
Railway bureaus and companies

There were 16 railway bureaux and 2 railway group companies under the Ministry of Railways. As of 2008, approximately 2 million people worked in the Ministry of Railways.[4][5]
Bureau or Agency | Railway Network in Provinces |
---|---|
Beijing Railway Bureau | Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi (part) |
Chengdu Railway Bureau | Sichuan, Chongqing |
Guangzhou Railway Group Co., Ltd. | Guangdong, Hunan |
Harbin Railway Bureau | Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia (part) |
Hohhot Railway Bureau | Inner Mongolia (part) |
Jinan Railway Bureau | Shandong, Liaoning (part) |
Kunming Railway Bureau | Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou |
Lanzhou Railway Bureau | Gansu, Ningxia |
Nanchang Railway Bureau | Jiangxi, Fujian |
Nanning Railway Bureau | Guangxi, Guangdong (part) |
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Group Co., Ltd. | Qinghai, Tibet |
Shanghai Railway Bureau | Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang |
Shenyang Railway Bureau | Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang (part), Inner Mongolia (part) |
Taiyuan Railway Bureau | Shanxi |
Wulumuqi Railway Bureau | Xinjiang |
Wuhan Railway Bureau | Hubei |
Xi'an Railway Bureau | Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Hubei |
Zhengzhou Railway Bureau | Hubei (part), Shaanxi, Shandong |
List of Railway Ministers
No. | Name | Took office | Left office |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Teng Daiyuan | October 1949 | January 1965 |
2 | Lü Zhengcao | January 1965 | 1966 |
Post abolished | |||
3 | Wan Li | January 1975 | December 1976 |
4 | Duan Junyi | December 1976 | March 1978 |
5 | Guo Weicheng | March 1978 | 1981 |
6 | Liu Jianzhang | 1981 | April 1982 |
7 | Chen Puru | April 1982 | 1985 |
8 | Ding Guangen | 1985 | April 1988 |
9 | Li Senmao | April 1988 | 1992 |
10 | Han Zhubin | 1992 | March 1998 |
11 | Fu Zhihuan | March 1998 | March 2003 |
12 | Liu Zhijun | March 2003 | February 2011 |
13 | Sheng Guangzu | February 2011 | 16 March 2013 |
See also
References
- ^ a b c Leutert, Wendy (2024). China's State-Owned Enterprises: Leadership, Reform, and Internationalization. Business and Public Policy Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-009-48654-5.
- ^ "China scraps railways ministry in streamlining drive". BBC News. 10 March 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
- ^ Sui-Lee Wee; Huang Yan; Miral Fahmy (25 February 2011). "China railways minister dismissed -Xinhua". The Los Angeles Times. Reuters. Retrieved 26 February 2011.[dead link ]
- ^ Wu, Zhong (May 7, 2008). "Blowing the whistle on 'Big Brother'". Asia Times Online. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^ Zhong, Wu (7 May 2008). "Blowing the whistle on 'Big Brother'". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2008.
External links
- Official website (in Chinese)
- China Academy of Railway Sciences
- National Railway Administration(in Chinese)
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