Signal Problems

Focus in the wake of a subway crash in Shanghai this week injured nearly 300 people has zoomed in on train signals, and the company contracted to install signalling equipment on key train routes across China.

The investigative news magazine Caixin is reporting that at least 20 other train routes, either finished or under construction, are using signaling equipment from Casco Signal, the company that installed signals that failed in both the Shanghai subway crash and the deadly Wenzhou high-speed rail crash earlier this summer. Casco is also contracted for signals on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line and Beijing's airport express train.

The details differed in the two collisions, according to press reports, and the company has denied any fault. Still, Chinese netizens are in an uproar over the signal problems. They're also reiterating their earlier, post-Wenzhou outcry that China's rail system has thrown caution to the wind in its hyper-speed development. The Shanghai subway collision left at least 260 injured, according to official reports.