Reforms for China's RailwaysChina's railways expect to implement reform by separating its administrative departments from business ones, following the information and civil aviation sectors.The industry will establish some passenger and cargo transport firms and a railway network company, taking the place of the current system combining railways administrative with business departments, according to an official with the Ministry of Railways. The railway network company will be in charge of railways construction and management under the Ministry, while transport enterprises will become independent market entities. The first step of the reform is to build up passenger transport companies, said the official, adding that the reform will take about 10 years. To date, four local railway bureaus have established independent passenger transport companies. The integration of administrative and business departments have negatively affected the industry's development, resulting in a significant drop of passenger and cargo turnover. In 1994, China 's railways became a loss-making industry. |
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