In 1986 the (LORIC) was formed, comprising 35 production sites and 4 research centres. In 2002 the
China Northern Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation was spin-off from LORIC. Its main competitor, the
China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation was formed in the same year. Both CNR Group and CSR Group were also transferred from the
Ministry of Railways to the
State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council at that time. CNR Group carried out import and export orders between 1998 and 2005 through the LORIC Import & Export Corp., Ltd. The subsidiary CNR Logistic Development Corp., Ltd., established in 1998 deals with export sales of CNR vehicles and parts. In November 2005, CNR Group signed a 669 million euro agreement with
Siemens under CEO
Klaus Kleinfeld that gave them access to the
intellectual property jewels of the latter. The first of these trains were to run in 2008 on the
Beijing-
Tianjin route. Only the first three of 60 trains were to be built in Germany. The balance were built in
Tangshan,
Hebei Province at the plant which is now named
CRRC Tangshan. In 2008, a new
Special purpose vehicle was incorporated, receiving major assets of the group and floated in both
Shanghai and
Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Some auxiliary assets of the group remained unlisted. The holding company also formed a new investment vehicle
CNR Ship & Ocean Engineering Development in ship building.
Chonghe Marine Industry was a minority shareholder in that vehicle . In 2015 CNR Group absorbed
CSR Group, and renamed to
CRRC Group; the flagship subsidiaries,
China CNR and
CSR, also merged as
CRRC. ==Exports==