(Yicai Global) Nov. 27 -- China Railway Corporation, commonly known as China Railway (CR), and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. [NYSE:BABA] will cooperate in the field of intelligent upgrade of high-speed rail operations. Lu Dongfu, general manager of China's national railway operator recently met with Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, in the headquarters of China's e-commerce giant based in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, People's Railway Daily reported.

China Railway will actively promote technology cooperation with Alibaba Group in such areas as e-ticketing, facial recognition check-in, and high-speed rail WIFI to provide a wide range of personalized high-speed rail services, Lu said at the meeting. CR will also integrate railway freight network and e-commerce platform to improve logistics efficiency and reduce logistics costs, the report added.

China has unique advantages in high-speed rail and e-commerce in the world, Ma emphasized, adding that Alibaba will actively participate in new high-speed rail operation projects, explore new revenue models, strengthen cooperation in logistics business and promote technologies such as Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of railways applications.

The near future will offer an important period of opportunity for the combination of high-speed rail assets and social capital, which is expected to have a huge stimulating effect on economic and social development, underlined Lu.

Jack Ma also briefed Lu about Alibaba's globalization, rural market development and Big Data strategy as well as its latest initiatives in new retail and fintech during the visit, People's Railway Daily added.