China's Ministry of Railways posted a net profit of 196 million yuan ($31.79 million) in 2012, up from 31 million yuan in 2011, thanks chiefly to higher revenue in freight transport, a Chinese media outlet reported on Sunday.
The scandal-plagued ministry, which was dissolved in a government action announced in March, saw its debt-to-assets ratio climb to 62.2 percent at the end of 2012 from 61.8 percent at the end of September, according to a report by Chinese-language Caixin magazine.
It added that the ministry's total outstanding debt reached 2.79 trillion yuan at the end of last year, up from the 2.66 trillion yuan at the end of the third quarter.
The defunct ministry, whose administrative responsibility was absorbed by the Ministry of Transport, had faced numerous problems over the past few years, including a fatal high-speed train accident in the eastern city of Wenzhou in 2011 that caused a loss of confidence in its much touted bullet-train service.
The government had said the newly established company would take over all debts left behind by the defunct ministry. The new company will enjoy favourable policies extended to the railway ministry in the past while new bonds issued to pay for a further expansion of railways would also be guaranteed by the government.
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