A General Description of China

Railway Society

China Railway Society (CRS) was established in April 1978 in the Ministry of Railways of China as a non-governmental organization for the science-technology workers all over the railways in China. CRS is of the qualification of a corporation chartered as a legal person and has the membership in China Association for Science and Technology.

CRS aims to unite and organize the vast railway science-technology workers, to initiate their spirit for contribution, creation, realistic approach and cooperation in the cause of railway scientific and technologic development so as to accelerate the modernization of the railway industry of China.

CRS undertakes essential missions as follow:

1. Developing domestic academic exchanges, organizing researches, studies and investigation for priority academic projects so as to promote the transfer of the scientific and technologic achievements into productive force.

2. Encouraging non-governmental international academic exchanges, developing friendly contracts and cooperation with its counterparts in the world.

3. Popularizing the railway scientific and technological knowledge and spreading the advanced science and technology as well as extending the new scientific and technological achievements.

4. Developing continuing education, carrying out technological training and promoting knowledge renewal.

5. Conducting policy-making consultation for organizations within and without the railways, appraising scientific and technological achievements as well as formulating technical standards.

6. Editing and publishing academic and popularized periodicals and symposiums, etc.

7. Organizing commending and reward-giving activities to discover and recommend outstanding experts in railway science and technology.

8. Safeguarding the legal rights of the scientists and technicians and conveying their suggestions and desires to the authorities concerned.

The supreme leading organ for CRS is the National Congress of Member Representatives, who will elect the Governing Council whose term is for 4 years. The Governing Council should have a session biennially. The duties of the Governing Council during not in session will be performed by the Standing Council. The daily working office of CRS is the Secretariat which consists of the Governing Office, the Academic Exchange Department, the Science Popularization Department, the Periodicals Editing & Publishing Department and the Operation & Development Department.

The Governing Council may establish a number of working committees to deal with given affairs while setting up corresponding specialized committees (or sub-discipline associations) to handle affairs regarding discipline development and academic activities. Each specialized committee may set up a certain number of specialized groups on the basis of branches. Up to April 1998, 5 working committees had been established, i.e. the Organization Working Committee, the Academic Working Committee, the Science Popularization Working Committee, the Periodical Editing Working Committee and the Foreign Affair Working Committee. At the same time, 24 specialized committees with 140 groups had been set up in the following disciplines: railway traction power, railway car, railway automation, railway electrification, railway transportation, railway engineering (titled as Railway Engineering Society at present), railway materials and technology, railway scientific and technological informations, railway materials management, railway retarder system, railway computer application, railway heavy haul operation, railway economics, labor, permanent way, safety, document-secretarial-archives, railway medicine, statistics, plan, environmental protection, education, railway standardization and metrology, and railway supervision, etc.

Now, sub-railway societies at provincial level have been set up in the country’s 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions except Xizang (Tibet) autonomous regions except Xizang (Tibet) antonomous region, Taiwan Province and Chongqing (a newly established municipality directly under the Central Government). These sub-societies conduct their activities under the guidance of CRS and develop and manage their members with the entrustment of CRS.

The members of CRS are divided into individual members, corporate members and overseas members. Up to April 1998, CRS had a membership of more than 89,000. CRS had carried out a lot of activities in the past 20 years since its founding.

In accordance with the essentials of railway science-technology developments in various periods, CRS convened corresponding conferences on important programs relating to the formation of railway technical policy, railway modernization, heavy haul transportation, high-speed railways, traffic safety, urban rail communication, speed-raising on existing railways, traffic development strategy, railway reform and development, etc. On an average, 50 academic meetings were convened every year, with more than 2,000 theses addressed and nearly 4,000 persons participated. In the past 20 years, essential academic meetings convened by CRS totaled 780, with 30,000 theses exchanged and 47,000 person-times participated. From 1991, 6 academic exchange meetings specially for youth had been organized with the purpose to promote the growth of youth experts.

CRS is devoted to the development of international academic exchange and cooperation. It has established exchange and cooperation relationship with academic institutes in USA, Japan, Russia, Britain, etc. Moreover, CRS is of the membership of the International Heavy Haul Transportation Association and that of the International Bridge & Structure Engineering Association. Up to 1998, CRS had sponsored 9 large international academic conferences and entertained 123 foreign delegations totaling 583 person-times. It had also organized 95 Chinese delegations with 362 person-times to investigate, visit or participate meetings abroad. Meanwhile, it had exchanged 237 postgraduates and trainee engineers with other countries.

CRS has made great efforts in the aspects of science popularization and continuing education. Every year, CRS conducts various kinds of training courses, technical lectures and academic reports for around 100 times with dozens thousand participators. In addition, CRS has made a lot of popular scientific video tapes and has them played at railway stations and no trains to passengers. It has also organized many youngsters summer camps and knowledge contests. All these activities are vivid and interesting and easy to understand therefore exerting a remarkable influence among the people.

The Operation & Development Department of CRS is very active in the field of technology and science. Its services cover a wide range, such as technical exploitation, transfer, consultation, service and intermediary, etc. Thanks to the 25 expert groups it is able to provide professional proposals regarding signalling and communication, material application, environmental protection, permanent way, safety, engineering, transportation, goods, law assistance, economics, etc. thereby playing a positive role in transferring technical and scientific achievements to productive force. It has won twice the Golden Ox Prix issued by China Association for Science and Technology in addition to once the Technical Market Golden Bridge Prix issued by the National Committee for Science and Technology for its excellent performance.

CRS has obtained a great success in the editing and publishing field. It has created two publications, i.e. Journal of the China Railway Society, an academic periodical, and Railway Knowledge, a scientific popularizational periodical. The former has become the key periodical arranged in the first order in railway transportation, and has won twice the Excellent Science and Technology Periodical Award issued by China Association for Science and Technology; while the latter, being rich in content, excellent in pictures and essays and to understand, has been evaluated twice as one of the national excellent scientific and technologic periodicals and won the Advanced Collective Award for Science Popularization Periodicals and the National Advanced Collective Award for Science Popularization Works. In addition, 29 society publications have been published by 14 specialized committees and 17 provincial societies respectively. Altogether, the annual circulation of publications of CRS and its sub-societies totals 760,000 copies. Moreover, a lot of symposiums, selected works of academic achievements have been edited and published every year associated with the annual academic conferences. In the past 20 years, as much as 150 symposiums were published. Also published were some restricted informations such as the Bulletin of China Railway Society, Suggestions from Science & Technology Workers and Development of Academic Exchange, etc.

The Zhan Tianyou Railway Science-Technology Development Fund of the China Science and Technology Development Foundation was established in June 1992 in the Ministry of Railways of China with the purpose to commemorate Dr. Zhan Tianyou’s great contribution to the development of the Chinese railways, and to inherit and expand his spirit of patriotism, creation, self-reliance and arduous struggle, as well as to support and subsidize the railway scientific and technical activities, to give awards to those science-technology workers who have made outstanding contributions so as to promote the prosperity of China railways and the growth of the excellent experts. The Fund is under the jurisdiction of CRS. So far, the Fund has out forward 3 award-giving activities and provided financial aids to 15 essential technical activities in addition to several commemorative meetings.

In 1996, CRS was commended as an Advanced Society of 1991-1995 Years by China Association for Science and Technology for its outstanding contribution to the development of railway relative disciplines and technical progress of the railway industry.

© China Railway Society