# Ministry of Railways (China)

The Ministry of Railways (MOR) was a constituent department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
The ministry was responsible for passenger services, regulation of the rail industry, development of the rail network and rail infrastructure in mainland China. The ministry was also in charge of the operations of China Railway which manages the railway bureaux and companies in mainland China.
On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the Ministry of Transport (safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and China Railway Corporation (construction and management), in part addressing concerns about calls for independent supervision of the rail industry. It was dissolved that year.

## History

The Ministry of Railways' predecessor was the Qing and the Republican Ministry of Posts and Communications.
The Ministry's railway building was important in China's national industrialization campaigns, mass mobilization, and military logistics.$^{:115}$ Academic Elisabeth Köll writes that during the Mao era, the Ministry's railways "represented the speed, economic efficiency, punctuality, discipline, technological advances, professionalism, dedication, and heroism necessary to promote the ideals of the party and the government at large."$^{:115}$
In 1989, the state took assets out of the Ministry of Railways and incorporated them to form a state-owned enterprise, the China Railway Engineering Corporation.$^{:114–115}$
On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the Ministry of Transport (safety and regulation), National Railway Administration (inspection) and China Railway Corporation (construction and management), in part addressing concerns about calls for independent supervision of the rail industry. The last minister was Sheng Guangzu.

## Rail bonds

MOR, acting as a corporation in the debt market, has sold 60 billion yuan of bonds in 2007.
For the year 2009, MOR planned to sell at least 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) worth of construction bonds to finance a large expansion of the country's rail network.

## Railway bureaus and companies

There were 16 railway bureaux and 2 railway group companies under the Ministry of Railways. As of 2008, approximately 2 million people worked in the Ministry of Railways.
| Bureau or Agency | Railway Network in Provinces |
| Beijing Railway Bureau | Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin, Shanxi (part) |
| Chengdu Railway Bureau | Sichuan, Chongqing |
| Guangzhou Railway Group Co., Ltd. | Guangdong, Hunan |
| Harbin Railway Bureau | Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia (part) |
| Hohhot Railway Bureau | Inner Mongolia (part) |
| Jinan Railway Bureau | Shandong, Liaoning (part) |
| Kunming Railway Bureau | Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou |
| Lanzhou Railway Bureau | Gansu, Ningxia |
| Nanchang Railway Bureau | Jiangxi, Fujian |
| Nanning Railway Bureau | Guangxi, Guangdong (part) |
| Qinghai-Tibet Railway Group Co., Ltd. | Qinghai, Tibet |
| Shanghai Railway Bureau | Shanghai, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang |
| Shenyang Railway Bureau | Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang (part), Inner Mongolia (part) |
| Taiyuan Railway Bureau | Shanxi |
| Wulumuqi Railway Bureau | Xinjiang |
| Wuhan Railway Bureau | Hubei |
| Xi'an Railway Bureau | Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Hubei |
| Zhengzhou Railway Bureau | Hubei (part), Shaanxi, Shandong |

## List of Railway Ministers

| No. | Name | Took office | Left office |
| 1 | Teng Daiyuan | October 1949 | January 1965 |
| 2 | Lü Zhengcao | January 1965 | 1966 |
| Post abolished ||||
| 3 | Wan Li | January 1975 | December 1976 |
| 4 | Duan Junyi | December 1976 | March 1978 |
| 5 | Guo Weicheng | March 1978 | 1981 |
| 6 | Liu Jianzhang | 1981 | April 1982 |
| 7 | Chen Puru | April 1982 | 1985 |
| 8 | Ding Guangen | 1985 | April 1988 |
| 9 | Li Senmao | April 1988 | 1992 |
| 10 | Han Zhubin | 1992 | March 1998 |
| 11 | Fu Zhihuan | March 1998 | March 2003 |
| 12 | Liu Zhijun | March 2003 | February 2011 |
| 13 | Sheng Guangzu | February 2011 | 16 March 2013 |