Freight challenge ahead for railways

China Railway Corporation has introduced reforms, aimed at improving efficiency and providing better services, in a bid to transform the company's freight transport into a modern logistics business.

CRC has good reasons to start its pilot reforms of freight transportation, as it not only has the responsibility for commercial operation of the railways, but also has taken on the debts of the former Ministry of Railways after the government dismantled the ministry into administrative and commercial arms in March. The audit report of the Ministry of Railways last year showed that the ministry had debts of 2.79 trillion yuan ($455.2 billion), and the debt ratio was 62.2 percent.

Although CRC's debt pressure is not that heavy compared with other State-owned companies in other industries, the ever-approaching debt repayment peak, which some experts predict is likely to come between 2017 to 2019, has forced the corporation to carry out market-based reforms in order to boost its profitability.