Signal failure blamed for China rail crash
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A signal failure has been blamed for the high-speed rail crash that killed 39 people in eastern China last weekend. Xinhua reported the Shanghai Railway Bureau as saying in a press conference today that preliminary investigations uncovered a signal defect at Wenzhou South Railway Station. It claims the equipment was struck by lightning before the crash, causing it to incorrectly display a green light. It is the second time lightning has been cited as a possible cause for the crash; immediately after the incident it was revealed that one of the trains was struck by lightning, causing it to stall on the track.
The Bureau’s Director, An Lusheng was also reported saying that railways workers failed to realise that the signal was incorrect, and therefore didn’t raise the alarm.
China’s high-speed rail technology has been called into question since the crash, with some commentators saying that the roll-out of lines has been rushed, or that the country’s railway workforce is inadequately trained.
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