It is a part of the State Council and mainly in charge of the railways.

 Its chief functions are:

(1) to draft the strategies, guidelines, policies and rules of the railway industry; to establish the unified rules and regulations for the national railways and to monitor and implement them.

(2) to draft the development layout of railway industry, work out the annual plan of national railway and guide it to be carried out; to work out relevant planning of construction the joint and local railways. Be responsible for the statistics and communications of the railway industry.

(3) to take charge of the industry management of railway construction. Organize and manage related activities of medium-and-large sized railway construction project.

(4) to draft the technological policies, standards and management regulations of railway industry. Take charge to monitor railway technologies, to organize to research new technologies and new products and to evaluate the achievements; to introduce foreign advanced technologies.

(5) to carry out the guidelines of reformation national economy mechanism, to put forward innovative schemes on national railway management mechanismcial affairs of national railway. Arrange to use the funds and capitals of all railways; investigate and air opinions on the traffic price of national railways and to erect the specific schemes for implementation and supervision after being approved; to coordinate the products’ prices of railway industry; and to manage the funds of national railway cause.

(6) to cultivate and standardize railway transportation market, and seek the unity of management in dispatch and direct national railways; and to be responsible for macro-controlling  national railway transportation. Monitor and check on safety manufacture of the national railways and qualities of railway services; to organize and manage the national railway’s combat readiness.

 (7) to be responsible for management personnel, senior and junior technology and workers’ education, institutional workout, labor wage, environmental protection, energy-saving and sanitary epidemic protection of national railway.

(8) to manage the foreign affairs and foreign economic & technological cooperation of the national railways.

(9) to manage the public security affairs of the railway.

 (10) to take charge of the railway special transportation.

(11) to be responsible for the construction of the Party and ideological politics of the national railway system, and manage the team construction of workers.

(12) to undertake other affairs distributed by the State Council.