The hottest railway in China has high debt and is

China's railway is "highly indebted and short of money". It is difficult to implement the private investment into the railway for 7 years.

● the effect of railway investment and financing reform is not ideal. First, the operation mode of the railway system is opaque, which is difficult to trust social capital; Second, to form a diversified investment body, the railway needs to give up some decision-making power and control power

● private capital is profit seeking. To attract it, we must clarify where to invest, how to spend, and how to earn

● China's railway "has high debt, is very short of money, and is in a hurry to raise funds". The intensive introduction of policies to encourage private capital investment shows the determination of railway system reform

on May 20, the guiding opinions on the bidding work of railway engineering projects entering the local public resource trading market was published. The "opinions" clearly pointed out that the original railway engineering trading center of the Ministry of Railways and 18 railway bureaus (the company's policies at the same time support the left and right bow) should be abolished

previously, on May 18, the Ministry of Railways announced the "implementation opinions of the Ministry of Railways on encouraging and guiding private capital to invest in Railways", proposing 14 implementation opinions, including encouraging and guiding private capital to enter the railway field in accordance with the law, further promoting the reform of the railway investment and financing system, further reducing and standardizing railway administrative approval matters, and effectively transforming the functions of the Ministry of railways

intensive policies have caused strong market reaction. On May 21, the railway sector in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets rose strongly, and individual railway stocks such as southern bearing and Guoheng railway were closed at the daily limit

"to further encourage private investment and the transfer of bidding rights is actually an easy and influential cut in railway reform, which shows the determination of railway system reform." Ji Jialun, Secretary General of the Transportation Committee of China Railway Society and professor of Beijing Jiaotong University, believes that

investment fell by 48.3% in the first four months. China's railway "has high debt, is very short of money, and is in a hurry to raise funds"

in recent years, large-scale construction has kept the asset liability ratio of China's railway at a high level

data show that from 2009 to 2011, China's railway asset liability ratio was 53.06%, 57.44% and 60.63% respectively. In addition, the issuance of railway bonds was once cold last year. In the first April of this year, the railway fixed asset investment was 89.597 billion yuan, of which the capital construction investment was 71.710 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 48.3% and 54.1% respectively. Therefore, "high debt, lack of money and urgent financing" have become the background for some institutions to interpret the implementation opinions of the Ministry of Railways on encouraging and guiding private capital investment in railways

"raising funds is not the fundamental reason to encourage and guide private capital to invest in the railway. The introduction of these two opinions is more to deepen or even force the reform of the railway system through the diversification of railway investment subjects." Ji Jialun emphasized in particular

Ji Jialun recalled that in the past, he used to travel by train. As long as there was a local railway construction project bidding, he would encounter several groups of people in the carriage to "work" in the local railway bureau. Finally, the bidding has become a "show", and some "top leaders" have already decided which enterprise wins the bid before the evaluation

"bringing railway engineering projects into the bidding of local public resource trading market has changed the tradition of Railways being both referees and athletes, maintained an open, fair and just market competition order, and is also conducive to promoting the separation of government and enterprises in the railway system." Ji Jialun said, "in fact, it also helps private capital enter the field of railway investment under the principle of fairness."

allowing the establishment of non-public capital holding or wholly-owned railway freight enterprises has been difficult to implement for seven years.

it is reported that the opinions issued this time is not the first time that the railway has opened the financing door, but the continuation of the reform of the railway investment and financing system

as early as July, 2005, in response to the policy spirit of supporting the development of non-public economy put forward by the government, the Ministry of Railways issued the implementation opinions on encouraging, supporting and guiding non-public economy to participate in railway construction and operation, It is proposed that "in accordance with the principles of equal access and fair treatment, all railway construction, transportation operation and transportation equipment manufacturing fields that allow foreign capital to enter are also allowed to enter domestic non-public capital, and the conditions are appropriately relaxed"

this 2000 word opinion even puts forward: "we should study and learn from franchising, entrusted operation, BT (construction transfer), BOT (construction operation transfer), PPP (cooperation between public sector and private enterprises) And other public infrastructure investment and construction business models, explore the joint venture railway operation mechanism suitable for the characteristics of China's railways, and actively strive for national policy support in terms of investment compensation, financing channels, fiscal and tax policies, freight rate mechanism, etc; "When conditions are met, it is allowed to set up railway freight enterprises controlled by non-public capital or wholly-owned"; "Non public enterprises are allowed to operate railway passenger train baggage cars, luggage trains and postal trains in the form of charter."

in June, 2006, the Ministry of Railways also launched the "Eleventh Five Year Plan" to promote the reform of railway investment and financing system, which clearly stated that railway investment should follow the principle of "government led, diversified investment and market-oriented operation"

however, the main body of railway investment is still "monolithic", and the channels for private capital to enter the railway are still narrow. It is difficult for the railway to "connect" with private capital

the dominant position of railway enterprises in the market has been raised to a prominent position

in February this year, the State Council made clear the time limit requirements for formulating and Issuing the detailed rules for the implementation of private investment in the first half of this year. The government work report and the key work opinions on deepening economic system reform in 2012 approved and transmitted by the State Council will encourage private capital to enter railways, municipal administration, finance, energy, telecommunications, education Seven areas including medical treatment are listed as the key tasks to be implemented in 2012, and it is clearly required to speed up the formulation and issuance of implementation rules

compared with the "qualitative change" of the "guiding opinions on the bidding work of railway engineering projects entering the local public resource trading market", the "implementation opinions of the Ministry of Railways on encouraging and guiding private capital investment in Railways" represents a "quantitative change"

in terms of investment subjects, the 2005 "opinions" stipulates that "all railway construction, transportation operation and transportation equipment manufacturing fields that allow foreign capital to enter, also allow domestic non-public capital to enter, and appropriately relax the conditions." The "opinions" made it clear that "all kinds of investment subjects are treated equally, and there are no separate additional conditions for private capital"

in the field of investment, the opinions adds third-party technical services such as railway product certification, quality inspection and testing, safety assessment, professional training, and contract energy management on the basis of the four open sectors of construction, passenger and freight transportation, equipment manufacturing and diversified operation in the past

what is more noteworthy is that Article 13 of the opinions, "strengthening the publicity of government affairs and government information", and Article 14, "effectively transforming the functions of the Ministry of Railways", have never appeared in the past reform plan. This also means strengthening the reform and innovation of railway operation and management system and mechanism, and giving railway transportation enterprises a prominent position in the market

5. The railway construction management and operation mode of recording water consumption need to be reformed.

since the railway policy of encouraging and attracting private capital has been issued for nearly seven years, why did these two rich reform plans fail to usher in the climax of private capital entering the railway field

in fact, to attract private investment, the current construction, management and operation mode of China's railways need to be reformed and innovated in many aspects -

due to the assumption of basic public transport services, China's railways have implemented planned prices for a long time, and the transport prices do not adjust in time with the cost and supply-demand relationship

China's railways also undertake a large number of public welfare transportation tasks, such as fertilizers, cotton and other materials, which must be unconditionally guaranteed. At the same time, they should also give students, the disabled and other vulnerable groups half price tickets and priority during peak periods

China's railway is a plan management system. Where and how to allocate the limited "wagons" depends on the "plan" and listens to the unified dispatching command

China's regional economic development is uncoordinated and the distribution of resources is uneven. The Western experimental system can load 70% or 80% of the nominal maximum force of steel strands within 3 (5) minutes according to the standard requirements. The railway basically makes no money, and even freight is often transferred in empty cars. In order to meet the needs of people's livelihood, the Eastern Railway often "stops goods to ensure passengers" during the Spring Festival transportation. Therefore, At present, the railway adopts the method of unified revenue and expenditure, and the actual shrinkage rate in the forming process is also subject to the plastic shape calculation mode. All revenue and expenditure of each railway bureau are "meat rotten in the pot", which is actually an indefinable revenue and expenditure account

"private capital is profit seeking. To attract it, we must clarify where to invest, how to spend and how to earn. To attract private investment, it is not only the reform of the railway investment and financing system, but also involves the reform of all aspects of the railway system. And the effect of this kind of coercion is precisely what is needed to deepen the reform of the railway system." Ji Jialun said