  We construct central elements of the degenerate quantum general linear group
introduced by Cheng, Wang and Zhang. In particular, we give an explicit formula
for the quantum Casimir element. Our method is based on the explicit $L$
operators. Moreover, we construct a universal $L$ operator, which is a spectral
parameter-dependent solution of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation in the tensor
product of the degenerate quantum general linear group and the endomorphism
ring of its natural representation. This construction leads to the FRT approach
to the degenerate quantum general linear group.
