Reasons for "sluggish" reforms

Among China's four pillar industries-electric power, telecommunication, civil aviation and railway, the other three all have put out their reform plans, why the railway sector lags behind?

Fu answered that China's railway transport market is a grand, complicated system and reforms must be carried out carefully. Due to different national conditions it's hard for China to use the experience of developed countries for reference and, different from foreign markets, China's railway transport capacity has been bending under pressure, with cargo trafficking taking 54.6 percent of the whole transportation market.

Evident progress has been achieved on railway speed raising, Fu said. Since 1999 the 14 railway bureaus have separated cargo transport from passenger network and set up transportation companies, which laid solid foundation for the national railway reform as a whole.

Plan for Beijing-Shanghai high speed railroad undecided

Now related departments are conducting feasibility studies on the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railroad, and it is still can not be decided whether to use Maglev (magnetic levitation) or rail-and-track technology.

As for the Maglev plan, Fu said it was only proposed and has not been gone through formal studies.

China has been longing for high-speed railroad, Fu added, and has studied that of many countries including Japan, France and Germany, as well as their test Maglev lines. Now many Chinese experts are studying possibility of Maglev and it is still too early to make any decisions.

China Railcom to get independent gradually

China Railcom, the country's second biggest fixed-line telecom operator established at the end of 2000, will probably follow a road of gradual independence, Fu pointed out.

China Railcom has two inborn weaknesses, Fu said. First, as a new enterprise emerged from the womb of old system, it has a staff too thick but productivity too low. Second, it was not born at a right time, and thus missed many preferential policies, such as that on the telephone installation fee. However, as a company boasting 120,000-km communication network, it can still expect a brilliant future through deepened reforms and strengthened administration.

The establishment of China Railcom marks an important step of the nation's railway reform, Fu said. Now it mainly serves the railway sector but will gradually get independent as it expanding non-railway services.

Same price for faster speed

The railway system will take market as orientation and build three speed-raising circles with Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou at center. The total operation mileage of raised speed will exceed 16000 km with the ticket price remaining the same.

Since the first national speed promotion in 1997 the operation mileage has reached 13000 km, covering most Chinese areas and major cities. By 2005 the total operation mileage will surpass 7500 km. An administration and operation mechanism will also be set up in matching the development of market economy.

( October 22, 2002)