I see some Chinese rail engineers receiving a bullet to the back of the head soon.
Posted on 07/23/2011 4:32:51 PM PDT by mandaladon
(Reuters) - At least 32 people died when a high-speed train smashed into a stalled train in China's eastern Zhejiang province Saturday, state media said, raising new questions about the safety of the fast-growing rail network.
The accident occurred on a bridge near the city of Wenzhou after the first train lost power due to a lightning strike and a bullet train following behind crashed into it, state television said.
The total power failure rendered useless an electronic safety system designed to warn following trains of stalled trains on the tracks up ahead, and automatically halt them before a collision can occur, the report added.
It showed one or possibly two carriages on the ground under the bridge, with another hanging above it. Several other carriages derailed in the accident near Wenzhou, some 860 miles south of Beijing.
More than 200 people have been taken to hospital, the official Xinhua news agency added. One train was heading from Beijing to the coastal city of Fuzhou, the other was running from Zhejiang provincial capital Hangzhou, also to Fuzhou.
"The train suddenly shook violently, casting luggage all around," Xinhua quoted survivor Liu Hongtao as saying.
"Passengers cried for help but no crew responded."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
"China's high-speed trains are rubbish! They have frequent accidents and they've only been in service a few years," wrote "I believe in snow.".........Most of what the Chinese make is junk>
Well that didn’t take long.
And we were only just starting to see articles appear about how China’s vaunted High Speed Rail system was hundred billions in the hole, shoddily made, unaffordable for the masses and that its director was under indictment for corruption.
Is InTrade taking bets on when the Three Gorges Dam is gonna pop?
Thomas Friedman, call the Ministry. Paging Tomas Friedman. Thomas Friedman? We need another NYT editorial, stat.
I see some Chinese rail engineers receiving a bullet to the back of the head soon.
When Japan had the urfquake and sunami that destroyed nuke plants, the knee-jerk was to step away from all nuke energy. Will this “incident” stop the bullet train plans between Rahmabad and New Fallujah? I think not.....
Death train 2011
Trains from time to time wreck. It’s been happening since November 1833.
Come to think of it, I wonder what the total railroad body count is. It has to be tremendous by now.
Thin white Rope - Dead Grammas on a Train
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