Posted on 09/27/2011 1:12:06 PM PDT by mathprof
Hundreds of people were injured Tuesday when a subway train slammed into the rear of another train in a sprawling transit line that had opened just last year in Shanghai. The accident cast new scrutiny on the safety record of China’s rapidly modernizing mass transit rail systems.
The state-run news media reported that 271 people were injured during the afternoon accident in the Shanghai Metro system. Xinhua, the official news agency, said that equipment failure was believed to be responsible and that the accident was under investigation.
There were no deaths reported but the government said late Tuesday that about 20 people were seriously injured, but that the injuries were not life threatening. Images from the crash site posted on blogs and social networking sites showed some people bloodied and badly injured.
The accident came just two months after a deadly crash involving two trains on China’s high-speed rail network for which officials have blamed bad weather and a signal failure. The July 23 crash in the eastern city of Wenzhou killed 40 people and injured nearly 200 others.
The Wenzhou accident unleashed harsh public criticism of the nation’s high-speed rail program amid concern that the government had not ensured its safety. Since then, the government has slowed the speed of trains and announced a thorough review of its safety program.
As part of its rapid urbanization efforts, China has spent billions of dollars over the last decade to build huge subway systems and a national high-speed rail network.
The pace of construction is unprecedented, with even second tier cities like Wuhan racing to build underground subway systems to ease congestion in fast-growing cities.
Up to now, China’s transportation systems have proved to be a boon to its economy, with few fatalities.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This subway crash sounds pretty bad. I've taken the #10 line several times.
And Obama wants the US to mimic China metro system...Please!
The Politburo is not concerned. The have lots of spares.
Goes to show that China’s economic power is really a “house of cards”.
“Quick bury those subway cars so nobody can find out what happened!”
A lot of what we hear about the Chinese economy is fake. The GDP numbers are mostly bogus. They’ve big empty cities that will be crumbling before anyone really moves in. It was their version of “stimulus” but the people will end up living in COSCO shipping containers.
For most Chinese, a COSCO shipping container would be a major step up in living arrangements.
That is until the managers of the subway are shot.
lol. I woudn’t doubt it. North Koreans would kll for something like that. heh
I’ve ridden on that subway too. I guess next time I will think twice. I’ve been in a few taxi accidents too but only minor ones.
That’s not gonna happen. The worst punishment would be a fake resignation, which actually means that he would be transferred to some other offices in some other cities. Believe me, as I’ve seen that a lot.
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