The concrete manifestation of the railway investment task is the continuous construction, opening, and operation of new railway lines, the renovation, new construction and extension of facilities along the lines, and the commissioning of batches of EMUs, locomotives, and freight cars. A few days ago, China National Railway Group released a set of data: In the first half of 2021, China's railway fixed asset investment totaled 298.949 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.26%. For the first time in the past six years, it was less than 300 billion yuan.

In the first half of 2016, China's railway investment exceeded the 300 billion yuan mark for the first time, reaching 306.745 billion yuan. In the following five years, it has been rising all the way, reaching 325.865 billion yuan in the first half of 2020.

But in fact, since 2020, railway investment has begun to tighten, and the annual fixed asset investment is only 781.9 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.62% year-on-year, making it the first time since 2014 to be less than 800 billion yuan. In 2021, the National Railway Group did not announce the completion of the task of railway fixed assets that year. Market participants generally expect that the railway investment level in 2021 may be between 770 billion and 780 billion yuan, which should not exceed 2020.

The decline in railway investment has caused some downturns in the railway construction market.

Newly signed contracts for the railway business of the three central enterprises are about 267.8 billion yuan

According to statistics, China Railway, China Railway Construction, and China Communications Construction have signed a total of about 267.8 billion yuan in new railway business contracts in the first half of 2021. It is obvious that the railway business of the three companies in the first half of 2021 is less than half of the previous two years.

However, it is worth noting that China Railway, China Railway Construction, and China Communications Construction signed new railway projects of 119.72 billion, 136.93 billion, and 11.227 billion, respectively, and their respective year-on-year growth rates were -2.9%, 11.66%, and 864.52%. China Railway Group has experienced negative growth, while China Railway Construction and China Communications Construction have achieved positive growth, especially China Communications Construction. Although the signing amount is far less than the former two, the growth rate has doubled. In addition, China Railway Construction's railway market contracted more than China Railway in the first half of the year, and the difference exceeded 15 billion yuan for the first time.

The bid amount of the railway project is about 239.1 billion yuan

According to statistics, in the first half of 2021, the total number of bids for railway projects was about 239.1 billion yuan.

1. China Railway Construction leads the railway construction market

From the perspective of the winning bidders of railway projects, China Railway and China Railway Construction, the "Second Railways", still accounted for more than 80% of the railway construction market in the first half of the year: about 88.4 billion yuan was won by China Railways, while China Railway Construction made efforts Rapidly, the group company and its subsidiaries have jointly won a railway project worth about 104.8 billion yuan. China Communications Construction and China State Construction won the 15.5 billion and 10.5 billion railway bids respectively.

China Railway Construction is able to lead the railway construction market, with overseas project orders contributing about 29% of the market share, of which US$3.02 billion is equivalent to approximately 19.948 billion yuan in the restoration and reconstruction project of the Eastern Route of Nigeria, and US$1.326 billion is approximately RMB 85.81. The 100 million yuan project of the Ithaca to Mwanza section of the standard gauge railway of the central line of Thailand’s Central Line was undertaken by China Civil Engineering.

In addition, China Railway 11th Bureau, China Railway 12th Bureau, China Railway 21st Bureau and other units set up a construction bid section of approximately 18.6 billion yuan for the Yalin section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway, and continued the in-depth layout of railway construction in Sichuan; China Railway 12th Bureau, China Railway 20th Bureau, China Railway Construction Bridge Bureau, China Railway 21st Bureau, China Railway 19th Bureau and other units have deepened the Shaanxi market and won the Xiyan high-speed rail Tongchuan-Yan'an section, the first opening section of the West Ten high-speed rail, and the Xikang high-speed rail about 175 100 million construction bid.

2. Railway orders in 6 provinces exceed tens of billions

In the first half of the year, the bidding value of railway projects in overseas markets was approximately 39.1 billion, becoming the home of railway construction. In addition, orders for railway projects in the six major provinces in China are more than 10 billion yuan: Shaanxi, Sichuan, Jilin, Tibet, Anhui, and Liaoning.

The projects that won the bids are mainly: Xiyan High-speed Railway Tongchuan-Yan'an Section, West Ten High-speed Railway First Opening Section, Xikang High-speed Railway, Sichuan-Tibet Railway Yalin Section, Longchang-Xuyong Section of Long-Huang Railway, Shenbai High-speed Railway, Chaohu-Ma'anshan Intercity Railway , Hefei-Xinyi Railway Anhui Section, the newly-built Nanchang-Huangshan Railway via Jingdezhen. And these railways are all railway engineering projects that are the key construction of the "14th Five-Year Plan".

The railway market will return to rational construction

As mentioned above, the current trend of railway investment is gradually tightening. From the planning level, we can also get a glimpse of the future railway investment trend. On February 24, the state issued the "National Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Transportation Network Planning Outline", proposing that 53,700 kilometers of railways will be built in the next 15 years (2021-2035), including 32,100 kilometers of high-speed railways and 21,600 kilometers of normal-speed railways, with an average annual The growth was 2140 kilometers and 1440 kilometers, respectively, which were 26.59% and 34.78% less than the average annual growth from 2008 to 2020.

Relevant data shows that the newly opened railway mileage in 2021 will also continue to decline. China National Railway Group plans to put into operation about 3,700 kilometers of new lines, of which about 1,600 kilometers of high-speed railways, which are 24.99% and 44.83% less than in 2020. The high-speed railway opening mileage is even more recent in recent years. lowest.

The rational return of the railway construction market is behind the high-debt operations of China National Railway Group-China Railway Group’s "2020 Financial Report" shows that by the end of 2020, China National Railway Group’s debt is 5.71 trillion yuan, compared with 5.49 in the same period last year. One trillion yuan increased by 4.01%; the debt ratio dropped slightly to 65.63%, a decrease of 0.35 percentage points from 2019.

Therefore, in March 2021, in order to prevent and defuse debt risks, enhance railway safety, quality and efficiency, and improve service guarantees and comprehensive development capabilities, the state issued relevant "Notices" and established new strict standards for high-speed rail: "The State Council issued a heavyweight document, There is a new red line for railway construction and financing! ". This will effectively avoid over-advanced, repeated construction and blind comparisons in the process of regional railway construction and operation, thereby saving a lot of costs.

Keywords: engineering construction, engineering news, engineering construction information

Regarding the current investment in railway construction, Lu Dongfu, chairman of the State Railway Group, stated at the leadership meeting held from July 12 to 13 that the intensity of railway construction should be maintained. Insist on guaranteeing the opening, guaranteeing under construction, guaranteeing the start of construction, and doing a good job in project opening in accordance with laws and regulations to ensure the realization of the goals of the construction management system. Editor/Sang Xiaomei