China's decision to abolish its railway ministry - transfer operations and staff to a company, China Railway Corporation, and regulatory functions to the ministry of transport - inevitably raises questions over what India is doing with its own railways. Since the 1990s, China's railway system has seen stupendous growth, becoming in some ways the foremost railway system in the world. This has left India's railway system, which was ahead of China's at the time of Independence, far behind.