Chinese bullet trains collide

At least 11 dead and dozens injured after two trains crash in Zhejiang province, causing carriages to fall from a bridge At least 11 people have died after two high-speed trains crashed into each other in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang on Saturday, causing two carriages to fall off a bridge, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Another 89 people have been sent to hospital, it added. Each carriage could carry about 100 people, Xinhua said. The accident occurred after the first train was hit by lightning and lost power, and was then rear-ended by another bullet train, Xinhua added, citing provincial television. Pictures on state television’s main news channel showed one carriage on the ground under the bridge, with another hanging above it. The government has spent billions of dollars boosting the railway network of the world’s most populous country and has said it plans to spend $120bn (£73bn) a year, over several years, on railway construction. But the vast network has been hit by a series of scandals and safety incidents over the past few months. Three railway officials have been investigated for corruption so far this year, according to local media reports. In February, Liu Zhijun was sacked as railways minister for “serious disciplinary violations”. He had spearheaded the investment drive into the rail sector over the last decade. The flagship Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line that opened earlier this month has been plagued by power outages, leaving passengers stranded for hours on stuffy trains on at least three times since it was opened. The Beijing-Shanghai link is the latest and most celebrated portion of a network the government hopes will stretch over 28,000 miles by the end of 2015. China Rail transport guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 23, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.