Merger CNR Group and
CSR Group, were once one company, China National Railway Locomotive & Rolling Stock Industry Corporation (LORIC). The company was split up in 2002. In late 2014, CNR Group and CSR Group agreed to merge, subject to approval by the Chinese state. Under the agreement, CNR Group would formally acquire CSR Group (but
CSR Corporation Limited would acquire
China CNR Corporation Limited). The combined business would each be renamed
CRRC Group and
CRRC Corporation Limited respectively (CRRC stands for China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation). The rationale given for the merger was increased efficiency, and the ability to better compete internationally. In mid-2015, production began at a rolling stock plant in
Batu Gajah,
Perak,
Malaysia, a satellite of
CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive, and the corporation's first plant outside China. Argentina had previously purchased a variety of rolling stock from the company over the years, including 704
EMU cars, 81 DMU cars, 44 passenger locomotives, 360 carriages, 107 freight locomotives and 3,500 freight cars, in addition to the 150
200 Series cars for the
Subte. In 2017, the Argentine government purchased an additional 200 EMUs from CRRC. In mid-2015, CRRC formed a freight wagon joint venture,
Vertex Railcar, as a minority partner with Hong Kong-based private equity firm
Majestic Legend Holdings to establish production in
Wilmington, North Carolina at a former
Terex facility. the plant was operational by the beginning of 2016. The Treasury Department released its report in December and found that the joint ownership was not a risk. In late 2015, Yu Weiping, one of the vice president of the company, stated the company planned to double overseas sales over five years, with North American passenger rail being one target. In March 2017, the subsidiary CRRC MA (based in
Quincy, Massachusetts) was awarded a contract by
SEPTA to construct 45 bi-level rail cars with the option for 10 additional cars for delivery in October 2019. The
SEPTA order was to be built at the Springfield plant and car shell manufactured from the Tangshan plant. CRRC was selected over Hyundai Rotem and Bombardier, which also bid on the bi-level contract and had each produced equipment for SEPTA in the past. Later in March 2017, CRRC was awarded a contract to build 64
HR4000 cars for the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) that will replace
existing vehicles on the agency's
Red and
Purple lines, with an option for another 218 cars. The LACMTA order will result in a assembly plant (installing propulsion, HVAC and other general assembly) being built in LA. Workers at the site reported problems with quality tracking, trains being advanced through the assembly process despite missing parts, assembly occurring in the wrong order, and being left with nothing to do for months at a time because a disorderly invoice system failed to reliably pay suppliers for parts. In 2023, CRRC received the equivalent of US$214 million in state
subsidies. In April 2024,
SEPTA terminated their order of bi-level rail cars, citing delays and poor build quality. They have stated "The authority is assessing its options for recouping funds that have been spent on the project" after spending $50 million on the project. CRRC expressed their disappointment at the cancellation, stating "[they] remain committed to completing the project." In 2025 until March 2026, it took over the
Hyundai-Rotem factory in Araraquara, far away from S. Paulo center and Train tracks for R$50 million.
South African bribery allegations In June 2016 a predecessor company of CRRC,
CSR Corporation Limited, was implicated in allegations of bribery to obtain a 2012 US$6 billion tender to deliver 600 locomotives to the state owned
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA). It was reported that the future South African Public Protector
Busisiwe Mkhwebane was implicated in the deal when she worked as Counselor Immigration and Civic Services in South Africa's embassy in China. By 2020 it was reported that funds allocated to pay for an adjusted contract to deliver the locomotives produced by CSR Corporation, now reformed into CRRC, had been frozen by the
South African Revenue Service due to possible instances of corruption paid to associates of the
Gupta family.
US sanctions The
United States Department of Defense alleges CRRC is a supplier to
People's Liberation Army. In November 2020,
Donald Trump issued an
executive order prohibiting any American company or individual from owning shares in companies that the United States Department of Defense has listed as having links to the People's Liberation Army, which included CRRC. In October 2022, the United States Department of Defense added CRRC to a list of "Chinese military companies" operating in the U.S.
EU investigation In February 2024, the European Union launched an investigation into CRRC for allegedly using state subsidies to undercut European suppliers. ==Shareholders==