China: investigating 49 high-speed train projects
On August 23, Xinhua News Agency reported that China's railway industry has investigated all 49 high-speed train projects and 6,000km of high-speed lines, a month after an accident in Wenzhou killed 40 people and injured nearly 200.
Xinhua News Agency quoted the spokesman of the China Work Safety Administration, Huang Yi, as saying that “the accident in Wenzhou was a serious accident, but one that could have been avoided.”
Train cars were moved after the accident - Photo: AP
The investigation will conclude by mid-September 2011. Meanwhile, operations of the bullet train lines and related construction projects will be halted if safety defects are found.
On the same day, the Chinese railway industry once again announced a reduction in the speed of some high-speed train lines. Xinhua reported that from August 28, the Shanghai-Hangzhou line will be reduced from 350 to 300 km/h.
A day earlier, Mr. Ma Sanh, general director of China Railway Signal and Communications Corporation, suddenly suffered a heart attack and died while his corporation was being investigated for the high-speed train accident on July 23.
(According to Tuoi Tre)
