China Railway
| China State Railway Group Company, Ltd. | |
|---|---|
 Logo of China Railway | |
.jpg) | |
| China Railway | |
Native name | 中国国家铁路集团有限公司 |
| Formerly | China Railway Corporation (2013–2019) |
| Type | State-owned limited company |
| Industry | Rail transport |
| Predecessor | Ministry of Railways |
| Founded |
|
| Headquarters | , China |
Area served | China |
| Key people | Guo Zhuxue (Chairman) Song Xiude (General Manager) |
| Services | Passenger rail Freight rail |
| Revenue |  CN¥1.245 trillion[nb 1] (2023) |
| CN¥27.465 billion[nb 2] (2023) | |
| CN¥3.304 billion (2023) | |
| Total assets | CN¥9.351 trillion (2023) |
| Total equity | CN¥3.223 trillion (2023) |
| Owner | Ministry of Finance |
Number of employees | 2 million approx. (2013) |
| Divisions | Railway operations |
| Subsidiaries | 16 bureaux 5 companies |
| Website | |
| Footnotes source[1] | |
| China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 中国国家铁路集团有限公司 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中國國家鐵路集團有限公司 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | China State Railway Group Limited Company | ||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 国铁集团 | ||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 國鐵集團 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | State Railway Group | ||||||||
| |||||||||
China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (中国国家铁路集团有限公司), doing business as China Railway (CR; 中国铁路),[2] is the state-owned rail transport operator and rail infrastructure manager corporation of China.[3]
China Railway operates passenger and freight transport throughout China with 18 regional bureaus.[4] China has the highest railway ridership in the world.[5]
History
[edit]China Railway Corporation was established in 2013 to be responsible for railroad construction, operation, and maintenance.[6]: 209
Under the Chinese Corporate Law, China Railway Corporation was reorganized into China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. on 18 June 2019. This meant the Ministry of Finance would act as an investor on behalf of the state and the company would be led by a board and managed by board-chosen executives.[7][8]
By the end of 2019, China Railway employed 2 million people and operated 139,900 km of railroads, of which 35,388 are high-speed railroads.[6]: 209–211
Passenger services
[edit]China Railway operates two main types of passenger rail services. Tickets for both types of trains are sold offline at ticket offices using the only national Ticketing and Reservation System (TRS), and online at China Railway's official online booking website, 12306.cn, and its associated mobile app, Railway 12306 (with both a Chinese interface and an English interface for use by foreigners). 12306.cn (and its app) is the only official online platform authorized to sell China Railway tickets.[9]
China Railway High-speed (CRH)
[edit]China Railway High-speed (CRH) is a high-speed rail service operated by China Railway.
The introduction of CRH series was a major part of the sixth national railway speedup, implemented on April 18, 2007.[10] By the end of 2020, China Railway High-speed provided service to all provinces in China, and operated just under 38,000 km (24,000 mi) passenger tracks in length, accounting for about two-thirds of the world's high-speed rail tracks in commercial service.[11][12][13] China has revealed plans to extend the HSR to 70,000 km by year 2035.[13] It is the world's most extensively used railway service, with 2.29 billion bullet train trips delivered in 2019[14] and 2.16 billion trips in 2020,[15] bringing the total cumulative number of trips to 13 billion as of 2020.[16][17]
In total, CRH operates over 3300 sets of rolling stock.[18][19] Of which, over 1000 sets are Hexie trains including CRH1/2A/5 that are designed to have a maximum speed of 250 km/h (160 mph), and CRH2C/3 have a maximum speed of 350 km/h (220 mph). The indigenous designed CRH380A reached a maximum test speed of 416.6 km/h (258.9 mph) with commercial operation speed of 350 km/h. The 16 car variant, CRH380AL, additionally reached 486.1 km/h (302.0 mph). The fastest train set, CRH380BL, attained a maximum test speed of 487.3 km/h (302.8 mph). The remaining 2300 some sets are newer generation Fuxing trains. In 2017, the China Standardized EMU brand including CR400AF/BF and CR200J joined China Railway High-speed and are designated as Fuxing together with letters CR (China Railway).[20][21] Since then, many variants have been introduced covering a wide range of speeds from 160 km/h to 350 km/h. The CR brand is gradually replacing the current CRH brand in service.[22] As of 2026, the CR450AF/BF, designed to be the first conventional trains to operate at 400 km/h, are undergoing testing on various newly constructed lines.
Depending on their speed, there are 3 categories of high speed trains: G, D and C. Most G trains and some C trains operate at 350 km/h, the fasted speed. D trains have a top speed of 250 km/h while most C trains have a top speed of 200 km/h.[23]
China Railway Classic Rail
[edit]The China Railway Classic Rail network (Chinese: 普速铁路; pinyin: Pǔ sù tiělù), also known as conventional rail, forms the backbone of China Railway's railway system alongside the high-speed rail (HSR) network. These traditional railway lines operate at speeds below 160 km/h (99 mph) and serve a dual role in transporting both passengers and freight. Unlike the high-speed CRH (China Railway High-speed) services, which primarily use dedicated electrified tracks, Classic Rail consists of older lines that may be single or double-tracked, with varying degrees of electrification.
Historically, all Classic Rail trains were olive-green, leading to the nickname "green train" (Chinese: 绿皮火车; pinyin: Lǜ pí huǒche) to be used by laypeople. Since 2014, most Classic Rail trains that had other colours (white, red, blue) have been repainted olive-green. Classic Rail trains are also sometimes referred to as "slow trains" in English.[24][25]
Classic Rail trains have significantly lower ticket prices compared to CRH trains and are a popular choice with travellers on a budget.[25]
Logo
[edit]
The China Railway logo was designed by Chen Yuchang (Chinese: 陈玉昶) (1912–1969), officially adopted on 22 January 1950. The whole logo represents the front of a locomotive. The upper part of the logo represents the Chinese character 人 (rén, people). While the lower part represents the transversal surface of a rail as well as the character 工 (gōng, labour). Together, the logo emphasizes that China's railway belongs to working class people because of their labour.[26][27][28]
The "CR" logo is used on the Fuxing (train) along with the China Railway logo.[29] The "CRH" logo is used on the Hexie (train). On most C2 forestry locomotives, an adapted China Railway logo with a stylised version of the character 林 (lín, forest) is featured on a cast emblem.[30]
Companies
[edit] | This section needs more citations. (January 2026) |
There are 21 primary subsidiary companies under China Railway. As of 2008, approximately two million people work in China Railway.
| Business | Company | Provinces of operation | Regions of operation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passenger | China Railway Harbin Group Company (CR Harbin) |
Northeastern Inner Mongolia (Hulunbuir and part of Xingan League), Heilongjiang | Northeast China |
| China Railway Shenyang Group Company (CR Shenyang) |
Liaoning (except Bohai Strait ferry), Jilin, Southeastern Inner Mongolia (Chifeng, Tongliao and part of Xingan League), southern Heilongjiang, northeastern Hebei | ||
| China Railway Beijing Group Company (CR Beijing) |
Beijing, Hebei (most parts), Tianjin, western Shandong, northern Henan, eastern Shanxi, with all the exception of Daqin Railway | North China | |
| China Railway Hohhot Group Company (CR Hohhot) |
Inner Mongolia (most parts) | ||
| China Railway Taiyuan Group Company (CR Taiyuan) |
Shanxi, also operates Daqin Railway through sub-company | ||
| China Railway Jinan Group Company (CR Jinan) |
Shandong (includes Bohai Strait ferry) | East China | |
| China Railway Shanghai Group Company (CR Shanghai) |
Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui (most parts) | ||
| China Railway Nanchang Group Company (CR Nanchang) |
Jiangxi, Fujian | ||
| China Railway Guangzhou Group Company (CR Guangzhou) |
Hainan, most parts of Guangdong and Hunan | South China | |
| China Railway Nanning Group Company (CR Nanning) |
Guangxi, western Guangdong | ||
| China Railway Wuhan Group Company (CR Wuhan) |
Hubei, southern Henan, a little part of Anhui | Central China | |
| China Railway Zhengzhou Group Company (CR Zhengzhou) |
Henan (middle and northern parts), southern Shanxi | ||
| China Railway Chengdu Group Company (CR Chengdu) |
Sichuan (most parts), Chongqing, Guizhou (most parts), a little part of Yunnan | Southwest China | |
| China Railway Kunming Group Company (CR Kunming) |
Yunnan (most parts), a little part of Sichuan and Guizhou | ||
| China Railway Qingzang Group Company (CR Qingzang) |
Tibet | ||
| Qinghai | Northwest China | ||
| China Railway Lanzhou Group Company (CR Lanzhou) |
Gansu (most parts), Ningxia, a little part of Inner Mongolia | ||
| China Railway Ürümqi Group Company (CR Ürümqi) |
Xinjiang, a little part of Gansu | ||
| China Railway Xi'an Group Company (CR Xi'an) |
Shaanxi (most parts), northeast Sichuan | ||
| Freight | China Railway Special Cargo Service Company (CRSCS) |
Nationwide | |
| China Railway Express Company (CRE) | |||
| China Railway Container Transport Company (CRCT) | |||
Second tier subsidiaries
[edit]Corporate affairs
[edit]Business trends
[edit]The key trends for the China Railway are (as of the financial year ending 31; all in CNY),
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 1.13 | 1.13 | 1.25 |
| Operating income | -34.8 | −54.4 | 27.47 |
| Net income | −49.9 | −69.6 | 3.30 |
| Total assets | 8.92 | 9.20 | 9.53 |
| Total equity | 3.00 | 3.09 | 3.22 |
| Ref. | [31] | [32] | [33] |
Partnership with Airlines
[edit]China Railway has codeshare agreements with the following airlines:
China Railway has Interline agreements with the following airlines:
International operations
[edit]International trains
[edit]China Railway International Group Co., Ltd (CRIG)[38] operates passenger trains from China to Mongolia[39], Russia[40], Kazakhstan[41], North Korea[42], Vietnam[43] and Laos[44].
The Beijing–UlaanBaatar–Moscow passenger train
The Kunming South–Vientiane passenger train
Services to Europe (New Silk Route)
[edit]![[icon]](https://lowyatch.pages.dev/bl-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (January 2017) |
As of 2017[update] China Railway ran goods services to 15 European cities, including routes to Madrid and Hamburg and the experimental East Wind service to London to test demand.[45] The Chinese government refers to the two-week 12,000 km (7,500 mi) route, starting at Yiwu and with trains to London traversing Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, as the Belt and Road Initiative.[46] Containers must be transferred several times, as different, incompatible, rail gauges are used in different regions, and the same rolling stock cannot be used throughout.
Africa
[edit]China has been investing in and helping to rebuild railways in Africa.[47][48] Below is an incomplete list of rail projects.
List of directors general
[edit]China Railway Corporation
[edit]- Sheng Guangzu (2013–2016)
- Lu Dongfu (2016–2018)