After the fall of Gang of Four, Duan served as the Minister of Railways of China.

[1] In October 1978, he became the Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary of Henan, director of Henan Revolutionary Committee, and the first political commissar of the provincial military region.

From January 1981 to May 1984, Duan served as the first secretary of the Beijing committee of the CCP, and the first political commissar of Beijing Defense Area.

In September 1982, Duan was appointed as a standing committee member of the CCP's Central Advisory Commission.

Duan was a member of 10th and 11th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party.