Weekly News on Railways （August 2nd~8th）

  With an opening strike on the gong of Shanghai Stocks & Securities Bourse by MOR Vice Minister Lu Dongfu at 09:28:50 on August 1st, Daqin Railway Co. Ltd realized its IPO of  domestic  A  shares. This has been  CR’s  first   big  transport  enterprise  to  accomplish such an IPO, ushering  in a new stage  of  railway’s financing reform and bringing blue  chips  for  railway  transport  investors.

  In the  morning  of August 1st, the CPPCC’s  delegation arrived in Xining  of  Qinghai province, the starting  point  of  QTR  Line,  to  begin the  inspection  tour. Through this visit, the  delegation  aims to learn and  promote  the QTR spirit, and contribute constructive advice to the west  development campaign and especially  to the  socio-economic  development  of Qinghai and Tibet, noted Zhang  Meiying, Vice Chairman of the 10th CPPCC National Committee and head of the delegation.

   According to MOR, the advance plan  for  CR’s  financing reform  during the  11th  FYP  has  been  turned out.  This  is  seen  as an important move to meet  railway’s  huge capital need during the  11th FYP, rationalize  railway’s  financing  structure  and  advance   railway’s  financing  reform.

   Ten  cooperative agreements on key projects of digesting， absorbingand and  re-innovating technology regarding 200km-and-above/h  EMUs  were  concluded in the morning  of   August  2nd, marking a new phase for CR’s self-reliant  innovation campaign for equipment modernization.

   According  to  MOR,  railway passenger  traffic  has been hovering at  a  high level since the start of summer  transportation on July 1st, with  some major  stations  nearing  the level  of Spring  Festivals. CR carried 115  million  passengers  in July,  up  10%  year-on-year;  and  among this, long-distance passengers amounted  to  43.121 million, up 12.8%  year-on-year,  reaching  a historical  new  high compared  with  the  previous corresponding periods.

   The  past  July has witnessed constant growth  of passenger  rail traffic and new highs are anticipated for August. At  CR’s  televised  transportation meeting on August 1st, MOR urged the railway administrations to  keep  a  close  watch  at  the passenger flow fluctuations, strengthen organization, better manage student flows, improve punctuality performance and ensure smooth and orderly summer transportation.

   On  August  1st,  track-laying was  started  from  Jinghe Station westward  on  the  Jinghe-Yining- Huo’ erguosi  Line,  a cooperative project of MOR and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

   MOR  Party  Group  convened  a televised  meeting  on  August  4th afternoon to  pass  on  Premier Wen Jiabao’s important message. While rounding up CR’s economic engagements in   the  first  half  year,  MOR  Party  Secretary  &  Minister  Liu Zhijun made deployment on implementing Premier  Wen’s  message as well as on CR’s future economic management. Liu  called  on  the  whole  sector to learn and  carry  on  Premier  Wen Jiabao’s message,  be  swiftly  adapted  to  the  central authority’s judgment on the current economic  situation  as  well as its  decisions  and deployment, and advance   CR’s   forward-leaping  development and the various missions in a  concrete  way  so   as  to   further  contribute   to the sound, rapid  and  balanced development  of the national economy.

   In  the afternoon of August 4th, the CPPPCC  delegation arrived at Lhasa  Station, conveying  greetings and donating  books  and  paintings  to the railway staff. In her closing speech, Vice Chairman of the 10th CPPCC National Committee Zhang Meiying encouraged the staff to realize the goal of good management of the QTR Line.

   MOR Party Secretary & Minister Liu Zhijun came over to the traffic control post of  QTR Company  on August  6th  afternoon  to inspect train operation. He  urged  the QTR  management  and dispatchers to bear in mind General Secretary Hu Jintao’s  instruction  of  good management of this  line, improve  traffic  control  capabilities  and  try  to  realize a first-class operation. 

   Thanks to the railway departments’ unyielding  efforts  since  the launch of  QTR  line, all  railway  equipment has  been  functioning  very  well  and the  plateau passenger trains demonstrating satisfactory reliability, which  ensures  safe,  express and comfortable service to  the passengers at high altitude.
 
   Thanks  to  the  opening  of  QTR  Line, both freight and passenger traffics   are   gaining  momentum,  according  to  MOR.  As  insiders  indicate,  the  Tibet-bound  cargo  averages 150,000  tons  per  month and the ex-Tibet volume is estimated to reach about 300,000 tons this year.

  At  this  critical  moment  of summer  transportation,  stealth  of railway equipment and communication cables  occurs  from time to time, which   greatly   endangers  train  operation safety. MOR Public Security Bureau issued  a  contingent circular to  urge for strengthened patrols and security control along railway lines so as to ensure summer transportation safety and smoothness.

  Passenger  train N915 from Lanzhou  to  Dunhuang rolled   out  of  Lanzhou  Station  at  18:30 on August  5th, marking the official launch  of Dunhuang Railway after nearly  one-year  construction and half-year  pilot operation,  thanks to the  railway  builders’ hard efforts. This railway has been constructed and managed jointly by MOR and Gansu Province.
  Translated by Wang Jiayu