Comment on the Report Concerning the Leadership Relations of the Railway Corps[1]
(September 11, 1950)

Agreed[2]. The General Office of the Military Commission is to draft a notification telegram and inform the Ministry of Railways.
Mao Zedong
September 11

[1] This is Mao Zedong’s comment on the report dated September 11, 1950, by Teng Daiyuan, Commander of the Railway Corps of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Lü Zhengcao, Deputy Commander, and Cui Huimin, Deputy Political Commissar and Director of the Political Department.
[2] The report by Teng Daiyuan, Lü Zhengcao, and others stated: On May 16 of last year, the Railway Corps, acting on an order from the Military Commission, was formed in June from the Railway Column into a specialized unit of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, constituting one of the modern national service arms. It was placed under the organizational structure of the Military Commission and entrusted to the leadership of the Minister of Railways. Over the past 15 months, under the leadership of the Minister of Railways, the Railway Corps has fulfilled its tasks of railway emergency repair and restoration. With regard to the work of the headquarters, political, logistics, and other organs, due to inappropriate institutional setups and imperfect organizational structures, coupled with the absence of established leadership relations with relevant departments of the Military Commission, operational guidance could not be obtained, problems could not be resolved, and work was considerably affected. In order to strengthen the leadership and regularization of the Corps, it is requested that the Military Commission instruct all relevant departments to recognize the Railway Corps as being under the organizational structure of the Military Commission. Except for engineering and funding, which shall remain the responsibility of the Ministry of Railways, all other matters—such as requests for instructions and reports to various departments, meetings and briefings, distribution of documents, newspapers, and instructional telegrams, as well as cadre training and transfers—shall be handled in the same manner as for other units directly subordinate to the Military Commission.