China plans to lay off 1.1m railway workers by the year 2000, according to reports from the state media.

The China Daily newspapaper has suggested that non-transportation units of the Ministry of Railways, such as engineering, construction and manufacturing may compete on the open market.

Most ministry enterprises will be required to adopt corporate-style management, discarding centralised control and planning, the report said.

The government will control main trunk rail lines, but might lease or transfer management of some non-trunk lines, the Deputy Minister of Railways, Fu Zhihuan, was quoted as saying.

The government wants to cut the railway industry's losses from 4bn yuan (£480m) to less than 1bn yuan ($120m), the newspaper said.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, China also plans to have a total of 68,000 kilometres of working railway track by the end of the year, a 3% increase from last year.

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