Several delegates from China’s coal industry have put forward proposals to further reform the country’s rail transportation system and relevant charges, sources learned from the annual parliamentary sessions. Zhang Youxi, president of Shanxi-based Datong coal mine Group, proposed that the government should roll out favorable policies for miners with huge demand for rail transportation. "For instance, miners with annual rail coal haulage above 50 million tonnes should enjoy discounts and mid or long-term agreement with rail authorities, with the freight rate being cut by 0.01-0.02 yuan/t.km," Zhang said. Miners have to bear the increasingly growing rail transport cost, which could account for 1/3 to 1/2 of the coal price, Zhang said. "Given the market downturn and excess supply, miners have no way to transfer the additional cost to downstream users. Besides the rising freight rate, miners would have to pay high rail construction fund that has been levied for years, he added. Coal transport accounts for a lion’s share for China’s rail cargo haulage, with 2.29 billion tonnes of coal transported by railway in 2014, taking nearly 60% of the total rail cargo transport. Rail construction fund Two senior officials from Shandong Energy Group and Shaanxi Coal Industry and Chemical Group proposed the government to cancel rail construction fund as soon as possible. The rail construction fund, approved by the State Council in early 1990s with the aim to accelerate railway projects, has been raised to over 60 billion yuan each year in recent years, following the rise in rail freight rates. The fund totaled 62.58 billion yuan in 2013 and was budgeted at 65.709 billion yuan last year, according to Hua Wei, one senior official with Shaanxi Coal Industry and Chemical Group. Currently, only a minimal part of the rail construction fund is used as direct investment on railway construction, while the majority actually is used to repay long-term loan and as grantee for the issue of railway construction loan, said Hua. "The time is ripe to remove the fund, as a diversified new investment system is being formed, with social fund expected to play a big role," said Bu Changsen, president of Shandong Energy Group. A potential decrease in miners’ transportation cost, through the removal of rail construction fund and favorable pricing policies, would undoubtedly help domestic miners gain some price edge over imported coal, said Bu.