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The long-awaited official report into the Wenzhou high-speed train crash in July 2011 cites serious design and management failings as the causes of the accident which killed 40 and injured 172. In the report, the Chinese government for the first time provides details about what happened in the hour before the crash, reports Han Qiao from China Features in Beijing.
THE report, published last month on the Chinese government's website, into the causes of the collision last year between two high-speed trains near Wenzhou has concluded design flaws and poor management were to blame for the fatal crash.
The accident took place on the evening of July 23 2011 when a high-speed train rearended another near the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou. "The disastrous crash was caused by serious design flaws ,in the train control system, inadequate safety procedure implemented by the authority and poor emergency response to system failure," says the report.
The type LKD2-T1 train control system used at Wenzhou South control centre was developed by Signal & Communication's Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute, itself a subsidiary of China Railway Signal & Communication Corporation (CRSC).
The report says the Railway Research & Design Institute did not organise a formal research and development team for the LKD2-T1 model, and failed to carry out a comprehensive assessment and conduct testing when the system was produced.
It suggests, CRSC, as the principal contractor for integrating the signalling and telecommunications on the Ningbo - Wenzhou high-speed line, did not fulfil its duty in overseeing the development of the technology.
Meanwhile, the report says the Ministry of Railways (MOR) did not play its role in the bidding, inspection and implementation of the LKD2T1 model, allowing it to be installed at Wenzhou South before sufficient testing had. been completed.
Local railway staffare criticised for their poor emergency response to the system failure (see entry for 19.54 in panel). Railway workers at both Shanghai and Wenzhou did not notify the driver of Train D301 that Train D3115 was ahead of it in a timely manner.
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