China Railway Corp. Struggles to Adapt in Era of Air Travel

By Sun Lizhao, Lu Bingyang and Coco Feng

A CRH (China Railway High-speed) bullet train heads to a maintence station in Xi'an, Shaanxi province on Dec. 13. China Railway Corp., operator of the world's biggest rail system, faces business challenges as it struggles with shifting tastes in travel and trillions of yuan in debt. Photo: IC

(Beijing) — Working on the railroad was a dream for many Chinese in the 1980s, when trains were the country’s main form of transportation and offered a glamorous life of travel that was off-limits to most.

But that aura has faded today, in an era when air travel is common and even ordinary people can afford modest vacations. The transformation has created an identity crisis for China Railway Corp. (CRC), operator of the world’s biggest rail system, which also includes a state-of-the-art high-speed rail network.