File photo of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway.

Hailed as "the world's most profitable high-speed rail," the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway has never disclosed specific numbers when it comes to earnings. However, a reporter from National Business Daily found in a document released by a railway shareholder on July 18 that in 2015, the gross revenue of the railway was 23.4 billion yuan, and the net profit was 6.6 billion yuan.

Although Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway has never disclosed its profit data to the public, the railway authority has said that it is the only profitable high-speed rail in China in the past five years. 

A bond prospectus released in July by Tianjin Railway Construction Co. Ltd, a shareholder of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, shows that the total assets of the company amount to 181.5 billion yuan, with the total liabilities coming to 50.4 billion yuan. The total owner’s equity is 131.2 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio is 27.7 percent. In 2015, the gross revenue of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway was 23.4 billion yuan, the total operating cost was 16.7 billion, the total profit was 6.7 billion and the net profit was 6.6 billion. 

It is worth noting that, according to data released by the China Railway Corporation, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway transported 24 million passengers in only its first six months of operation. In 2015, the route accommodated 130 million passengers. Based on this data, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway earned a profit of about 50 yuan from each passenger in 2015.