China's railway equipment makers reported record full-year profits on Monday, helped by government support that has lifted their sales abroad to countries such as the United States, Argentina and Thailand. Top train manufacturer China CNR Corp Ltd's 2014 net income rose by a third to 5.5 billion yuan ($886.2 million), while CSR Corp's net income over the same period increased 27.6 percent to 5.3 billion yuan. Both companies' net profit growth marked the fastest pace since 2011, according to Reuters Eikon data, though they fell short of expectations. Analysts on average expected CNR to report net income of 5.81 billion yuan, and CSR to report 5.59 billion yuan, according to Reuters data. Rail builder China Railway Construction's Corp Ltd (CRCC) full-year net income rose 9.65 percent to 11.3 billion yuan, while China Railway Group Ltd's (CRG) was up 10.5 percent to 10.4 billion yuan, both matching expectations. "The railway market is generally growing, but market competition is becoming fierce," CNR said in a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. "The company faces dual pressure from domestic competitors and international corporations." China's officials have been promoting the country's rail technology on diplomatic visits abroad and the government has also launched policies to improve transport links in Asia, moves which have stoked investor optimism over the sector's prospects. China's trainmakers exported 26.77 billion yuan worth of equipment last year, up 22.6 percent year-on-year, while the country's project contractors signed $24.7 billion in contracts worldwide, according to customs data. Notable deals include a $567 million contract won in October by CNR to supply trains to Boston, which was the first win for a Chinese railway equipment maker in the United States. Zhi Luxun, deputy director-general of the department of foreign trade at the Ministry of Commerce, said on Feb. 5 that China would take further measures to support its trainmakers' sales abroad. The government is in the midst of merging CNR and CSR into an enlarged firm able to compete globally with Germany's Siemens and Canada's Bombardier to sell more sophisticated high-speed rail technology. The rail firms' forays abroad have however hit bumps, most recently in Mexico where the government cancelled the tender for a $3.75 billion high-speed rail tender. ] China also plans to spend a further 800 billion yuan on building railway tracks at home this year. (Reuters)