China Railway Corp extends olive branch in private sector

A driver enters a train cab for a trial run at the Harmi South Station in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [Photo/China Daily]

A China Railway Corp executive welcomed Tencent Chairman Pony Ma Huateng to participate in the mixed ownership reform of the railway sector at a meeting last Friday, People's Railway Daily reported.

Lu Dongfu, general manager of China Railway Corp, the world's biggest railway operator by rail length, said he hoped cooperation between the two sides could promote the integration of high-speed rail network and internet as well as complement each other's strengths.

This is the second olive branch extended to a private enterprise after Lu said in January that CRC will carry out a mixed ownership reform this year, and work with both private and State-owned companies to form joint ventures to support the reform.

In May, Lu had a similar meeting with Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding.

In that meeting, Lu said he hoped the two sides could deepen cooperation in areas such as high-speed railways, international logistics, electronic payments and mixed ownership reform－on the basis of consolidating the application of Alipay, information verification services and station navigation.

However, regarding the meeting with Pony Ma Huateng, the newspaper did not provide further details on the sector and direction of the cooperation.

This year, the government pledged to deepen reform of State-owned enterprises and promised measures, including the introduction of a mixed ownership system and efforts to make SOEs leaner and healthier.

The railway has been selected as one of the seven sectors for mixed ownership reform. Others include electricity, oil, natural gas, civil aviation, telecommunications and military industries.