China repairs ‘collapsed’ high-speed railway line in Hubei province
Chinese workers unveil the new high-speed train, capable of reaching speeds up to 310 miles an hour, during a ceremony in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province on December 23, 2011. China has built the world’s largest high-speed rail system from scratch in less than a decade, but a collision between two high-speed trains in July that killed at least 40 people led it to suspend new projects.
A newly built section of a high-speed railway in central China collapsed after heavy rain, according to state media.
State news agency Xinhua reported today that a 980-foot section of the Hanyi High-Speed Railway collapsed March 9 after heavy rain in Qianjiang, Hubei province.
The collapsed section of the high-speed rail line had previously undergone test runs, and the railway is expected to open in May, Xinhua said.
The Hanyi railway links the provincial capital Wuhan with the city of Yichang, the second-largest city in Hubei.
Workers are rushing to repair the damage, the Xinhua report said.
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China's ambitious high-speed rail projects have been dogged by accusations of corruption and shoddy design and construction practices.
Forty people died last July in a crash on a rapid train line near the south-eastern city of Wenzhou, in Zhejiang province. Some 200 people were injured in the crash, in which a high-speed train made by state-owned train maker CSR Corp rammed into the back of another.
Following the crash, the government ordered a slowdown of all trains.
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