When the Beijing-Tianjin line opened on August 1, 2008, it set the record for the fastest conventional train service (at 330 kph) in the world by top speed, and reduced travel time between the two largest cities in northern China from 70 to 30 minutes. According to CRCC’s Meng, clinching the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR project will propel CRCC closer to its goal of becoming China’s leading construction group and the world’s most competitive and largest construction group.
It is the largest engineering contractor in China leading in project design and construction of plateau railways, high-speed railways, highways, bridges, tunnels and urban rail traffic systems. He says CRCC has designed more than 70% and constructed more than 60% of China’s HSR links, giving it solid technology accumulation, proven expertise, scientific management system and a strong management team.
It started out as the Railway Engineering Corp, a branch of the Party Liberation Army back in 1948, and has grown into the fastest growing global contractor with presence in 77 countries and more than 580 ongoing overseas projects worth some US$70bil. For the past five years, revenue from overseas projects surpassed US$16bil. In 2012, it established its Malaysian branch, CRCC Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
CRCC was listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges on March 10 and 13, 2008, respectively, with a registered capital of 12.3 billion yuan. According to Meng, CRCC is one of the world’s largest integrated construction group, ranking 80th among the Fortune Global 500, and sixth among China’s Top 500 Enterprises.
“The business areas of CRCC covers project contracting, survey design consultation, industrial manufacturing, real estate development, logistics, trading of goods and materials, as well as financial capital operations,” Meng discloses.
CRCC has morphed from construction contracts into a complete and comprehensive industrial chain of using scientific research, planning, survey, design, construction, supervision, maintenance and operation works to provide one-stop integrated services.
Among its signature projects are Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR, Beijing-Tianjin intercity HSR, Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou HSR, Beijing-Shanghai HSR, Nanjing Yangtze River Tunnel, Xiamen Xiang’an Undersea Tunnel and Qingdao Jiaozhou Bay Undersea, Metro light rail in Mecca and West Ring Express Trunk Road of Suzhou City. It has also constructed more than 100 motorways for a total of 22,600 km and one of its feats is building underwater tunnels in the Yangtze River stretching 7.68 km.