A Study On The Legal Issues Related To Railway Reform After Separation Of Government And Enterprise

Natural monopoly industries are important targets of reform in many countries inrecent decades. In China, State Grid Corporation of China, TelecommunicationsCompany and civil aviation industries have gradually introduced market competitionmechanism through reform to break the status of their monopoly. In2013, the reformof railway finally took a historic step and achieved the separation of enterprises fromthe administration. However, the relevant legal issues of railway reform after theseparation need to be further researched urgently.China railway reform may not have the optimal solution, but there should be anagreement on that the improvement of the railway legal system can effectivelypromote the deepening of railway reform. What’s more, it has very importanttheoretical and realistic meaning that discussing the next step of reform after theseparation of enterprises from the administration from a legal perspective. This paperis divided into four parts: in the first part, the author reviews the brief history andachievements of railway reform in our country, founding that in most cases, therailway reforms give way to the development of our country and there are also manylegal problems remained after the separation. Moreover, three problems are concludedin this part. They are as follows: the existing laws and regulations block thedevelopment of the reform; the China National Railway’s supervision towards railwayindustry has not introduced competition mechanism and got rid of monopoly; theinvestment and financing system reform are lack of legal protection.In the second part, the necessity of the railway enterprises’ next step ofrestructuring is analyzed. Taking the basic theory of natural monopoly and the modernenterprise system as the breakthrough point, the necessity and urgency of establishingmodern enterprise system in the railway industry is clarified.In the third part of the paper, the author introduces the railway reformbackground and process in three developed countries which are Japan, the UnitedStates and Russia. Their legal preparations before taking the reform are emphasizedand analyzed comparatively in this part in order to get some enlightenment to Chinarailway reform. The revelations are as follows: legislating in advance can ensure therailway reform to go stably, orderly and smoothly; State is the main entity tocoordinate the interest relationship between the nation, public, enterprises andconsumers with the law; bringing in competition and determining a developmentalmodel which is suitable for China by the law are vital important.In the fourth part, the author puts forward some suggestions on how to use legalmeans to resolve the problems emerging in railway reform. The first is to improve thedesign level of the railway reform system. The second is to strengthen theconstruction of legal system which is related to the railway. The third is to break themonopoly and restructure the railway transport enterprises. The fourth is to remouldthe railway transport enterprises according to the Company Act. The last is to buildeffective government supervision towards China railway system according to the law.