2.38 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

China launches safety campaign after train crash

Published
By Reuters

China's rail minister, facing public outrage over Saturday's deadly train crash, has ordered a two-month safety check on railway operations and apologised for the accident which killed 39 people, state media reported on Tuesday.

Internet users have flooded websites and microblogs with comments following the crash in eastern China's Zhejiang province, the country's deadliest rail accident since 2008.

Even before the investigation into the cause of the crash was complete, Beijing on Sunday sacked three middle-level railway officials.

Efforts by the propaganda department to bar Chinese media from questioning official accounts of the accident only fueled the anger and suspicion.

The People's Daily quoted Sheng Guangzu, Minister of Railways, as saying a range of railway officials were directed to work on front-line operations during the next two months and to learn from the accident.

He said the safety campaign will extend through the end of September and will focus on high-speed rail and passenger trains, such as implementing maintenance standards and reinforcing checks on power connections to pre-empt outages.

Special attention would also go to prevent accidents caused by flooding and inclement weather, the minister said.

The government has begun paying compensation to the victims' families of the crash, with the first family accepting 500,000 yuan ($77,500, Dh285,134), according to state news agency Xinhua.

The ministry is still investigating the cause of the accident. State media has said a bullet train hit another express that lost power following a lightning strike, adding that the power failure knocked out an electronic safety system designed to alert conductors about stalled locomotives on the line.

The accident has raised concerns about the safety of the country's high-profile and fast-growing rail network and threatens to undermine its plans to export high-speed train technology.

Separately, on Monday more than 20 trains were delayed for up to three hours due to a power outage on the flagship high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai, the latest malfunction to plague the line since its grand opening in late June, local media reported on Tuesday.

The power cut happened after a storm in the central province of Anhui blew down an iron sheet, cutting off the power supply on Monday evening, the state-run Beijing News reported, citing an official from the Shanghai railway bureau.