The Ministry of Railways (MOR) was a constituent department of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

. 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 China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...

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 A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

(safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and

China Railway Corporation China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., doing business as China Railway (CR), is the national passenger and freight railroad corporation of the China, People's Republic of China. China Railway operates passenger and freight Rail transport in Chi ...

(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 The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

and the Republican

Ministry of Posts and Communications The Ministry of Posts and Communications or YouchuanbuChen Zhongping. Modern China's Network Revolution: Chambers of Commerce and Sociopolitical Change in the Early Twentieth Century', p. 152. Stanford University Press, 2011. . () was a late Qing ...

. The Ministry's railway building was important in China's national industrialization campaigns, mass mobilization, and military logistics. 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." In 1989, the state took assets out of the Ministry of Railways and incorporated them to form a

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

, the China Railway Engineering Corporation. On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the

(safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and

(construction and management), in part addressing concerns about calls for independent supervision of the rail industry. The last minister was Sheng Guangzu.

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.

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.

List of Railway Ministers

References

External links

*
China Academy of Railway Sciences

National Railway Administration
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Railways Of The People's Republic Of China

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...