China's Ministry of Railways made an after-tax profit of 15 million yuan (US$2.3 million) last year, a plunge of nearly 99.5 percent from 2009, according to an audited balance sheet issued yesterday.

It showed that, compared with its after-tax profit in 2009 of 2.7 billion yuan, last year's net profit for the ministry had slumped by around 99.5 percent.

In the first quarter of this year, transport companies under the ministry nationwide suffered a combined operational loss of 3.76 billion yuan.

Ministry officials blamed soaring costs, including for fuel, steel, vehicle parts and maintenance, for the shrinking gains since last year.

Higher income levels last year failed to curb the trend as operational costs and maintenance materials were more expensive while the investment in expanding bullet train routes in the country was considerable.

The ministry's income has been on the rise over the past three years. In 2010, the total business income was around 685.7 billion yuan, up from the 552.2 billion yuan in 2009. In 2008, income was around 533.4 billion yuan.

Last year, tickets on passenger services accounted for about 20 percent of total business income with the remainder from cargo services and other transport businesses operated by companies affiliated to the ministry.

The ministry held a cash flow of about 158.7 billion yuan at the end of its 2010 audited balance sheet, only slightly above the 150.1 billion yuan total annual payout on loans and interest.

Chen Yujing, an accounting professor at Shanghai University, said the level of cash flow could just pay off the due loans and interests.