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Flaws in railway signal system lead to fatal collision
July-28-2011

An excavator is used to dismantle a carriage of a derailed train from Saturday's devastating rail crash near the city of Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province.

An excavator is used to dismantle a carriage of a derailed train from Saturday's devastating rail crash near the city of Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang province. 

 

Design flaws in railway signal equipment led to Saturday's fatal high-speed train collision near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, the Shanghai Railway Bureau said on Thursday.

Having been struck by lightning, the signal system at Wenzhou South Railway Station failed to turn the green light to red, which caused the rear-end collision, said An Lusheng, head of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, at an investigation meeting held by the State Council in Wenzhou on Thursday.

The signal equipment was designed by a Beijing-based research and design institute and was put into use on Sept. 28, 2009, An said.

The accident revealed the railway sector's vulnerabilities in safety infrastructure and management, An said.

The accident has left at least 39 people dead and 192 others injured.

The State Council has set up an investigation panel working at the site, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said in a statement on Tuesday .