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.
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Guangzhounan (Guangzhou South) railway station (simplified Chinese: 广州南站; traditional Chinese: 廣州南站; Jyutping: gwong2 zau1 naam4 zaam6; Cantonese Yale: Gwóngjāu Nàahm Jaahm) is located in Shibi, Panyu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. It is a large modern rail terminal 17 kilometres (11 mi) south of central Guangzhou. For a brief time it was Asia's largest railway station by area when it officially started operation in early 2010.
The station, designed by TFP Farrells, remains the largest in Guangzhou. It is one of the four largest railway passenger transportation hubs in China. It is an interchange station and a terminus between the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong XRL, Guangzhou-Maoming Railway, Guangzhou–Zhuhai intercity railway and Beijing-Guangzhou HSR. This station is intended to replace the existing Guangzhou railway station as the dominant station in Guangzhou. Together with Guangzhou railway station, Guangzhou East and Guangzhou North railway stations, the station will jointly form one of six planned National Railway Passenger Transportation Centres by the Chinese Ministry of Railways.
Rail transport is an important mode of long-distance transportation in China. As of 2024, the country had more than 159,000 km (98,798 mi) of railways, the 2nd longest network in the world. By the end of 2023, China had more than 45,000 kilometres (27,962 miles) of high-speed rail (HSR), the longest HSR network in the world.
The railway sector in China is essentially operated by the central government. Almost all rail operations are handled by the China State Railway Group Company, Limited, a state-owned company created in March 2013 (as China Railway Corporation) after the dissolution of the Ministry of Railways and was converted into a joint-stock company and placed under the control of the Ministry of Finance in June 2019.
The Campaign to raise the speed of railway travel in China or the China Railway Speed Up Campaign (Chinese: 中国铁路大提速) was a series of initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Railways from 1997 to 2007 to increase the speed of train travel in China by improving the nation's railways. The campaign was implemented in six rounds and increased average speed of passenger trains in China from 43 to 70 kilometers per hour (27 to 43 miles per hour).