Railway freight rates are stable and reforms are expected to be strong.

According to the "Notice", the railroad bulk express is a rail transport product that adopts a fast freight organization and provides fast bulk cargo transportation and full logistics services. The social capital investment holding railway and passenger dedicated railway lines refer to the fiscal funds of the people's governments at all levels, and the investments made by other economic organizations in addition to the investments made by the China National Railway Corporation and its subordinate and controlling enterprises and railway (traffic) investment companies of the people's governments at all levels. The railway or railway passenger dedicated line.

The National Development and Reform Commission also stated in the "Notice" that when railway transport enterprises provide the above-mentioned railway transportation services, they must establish a sound pricing mechanism in accordance with the principles of "legitimate, fair, and sincere," and reasonably arrange the tariff level, and must not excessively increase the transportation price during the transportation season. .

At the same time, the National Development and Reform Commission also issued the “Notice on the Decentralization and Deregulation of the Prices of Certain Transportation Services”, requiring price authorities of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government to step up their efforts to liberalize railway passengers, extension of freight transport services, and postal extension services. In terms of fees, the relevant operators shall independently determine specific charging items and charging standards according to the user's needs, production and operating costs, market supply and demand and competition conditions, and social affordability.

For the changes in the above policies, the industry people more to interpret it as an affirmation of the existing issues. “At present, the above four areas have basically achieved market competition. The release of this price does not mean that prices will increase.”

With the development of e-commerce, the number of bulk cargoes and parcels for rail transport has also increased. However, the above stated that the area of ​​liberalization occupied a very small proportion of the total railway market. “The main source of railway income is bulk commodities, and it is difficult to let prices in this area go.”

In addition, there are few new railways built by social capital investment holdings, accounting for no more than 10% of the total, and most of them are local routes. “The above policy does not cover the current state-owned railway lines. This also means that the freight and passenger prices of most railway lines are still controlled by the government.”

"The railway market must be reformed in the railway investment and financing system, and more social capital should be introduced into this market to promote market competition." However, in terms of policy, the government’s pace is still too small, and its attractiveness to social capital needs to be enhanced.