Tracks from the Past, Transport for the Future : China's Railway Industry 1990-2008 and Its Future Plans and Possibilities

This report describes and explains how,
in the period 1990-2008, China's railway sector has
contributed and responded to the incredibly challenging
transport demands generated by China's economic
development, and highlights the plans and possibilities that
lie ahead. In 1949, China had only 22,000 km of poorly
maintained and war-damaged railway line, less than 1,000 km
of which was double-tracked with none being electrified.
Since then, the government has transformed the railway
sector into a vital element of China's national
transport system and a key contributor to China's
extraordinary record of economic growth. Today, China Rail
is the second biggest carrier of rail freight and the
biggest carrier of passenger transport in the world. It has
the largest combined rail traffic task of any national
railway system in the world, carrying about a quarter of the
world's railway traffic on about seven percent of the
global route-km of public railway. This paper describes how
the Ministry of Railways, and its constituent regional
railway administrations and other entities, have created a
modern rail system by adopting proven international
practices and technologies, giving them distinct Chinese
characteristics, and adapting them to Chinese circumstances.