The Ministry of Railways announced in Beijing Friday that it has canceled all railway sub-administrations and put the stations and sections directly under the railway administrations.
  
Currently there are 15 railway administrations under the ministry. According to the ministry's reform plan, the ten administrations that had sub-administrations have eliminated all their 41 sub-administrations.
  
After the restructuring, the administrations set up control centers to command the transportation in their regions.
  
Before the reform, the railway system had four levels of administration, namely, the ministry, administrations, sub-administrations, and stations and sections.
  
Administrations and sub-administrations were both legal entities and their functions overlapped in some aspects, leading to low-efficient management, said Liu Zhijun, minister of railways.
  
Elimination of sub-administrations will help enhance work efficiency and enable the railway system to form a modern corporate system, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 18, 2005)