Train Crash in china has made people disappointed and hopeless

[CheshireCat]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/07/25/china.train.accident.outrage/index.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14262276

http://attach.wzdsb.net/blog_attachment/201107/25/73773_1311610672Uu5l.jpg

 

Firemen,they are the people we truly admire.

The envidence,the burned and broken train.

Thank you for Mr.Lotuo and Mr.Chen Bin for pictures.

 

Beijing (CNN) -- Nationwide outrage continued Monday in China over the government's response to a deadly bullet train collision last weekend, even as operations resumed on the affected high-speed rail lines.

 

A bullet train was struck from behind Saturday night by another train near Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, killing at least 38 people -- including two American citizens -- and injuring almost 200. The first train was forced to stop on the tracks due to a power outage and the impact caused six cars to derail, including four that fell from an elevated bridge.

 

Although Chinese reporters raced to the scene, none of the major state-run newspapers even mentioned the story on their Sunday front pages. A user of Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, first broke the story and increasingly popular social media outlets then provided millions of Chinese with the fastest information and pictures as well as the most poignant and scathing commentaries.

 

By the time the railway ministry held its first press conference more than 24 hours after the collision, the public had seen not just reports of passengers trapped inside dark trains or images of a mangled car dangling off the bridge -- but also bulldozers crushing mangled cars that had fallen to the ground and burying the wreckage on site.

 

"How can we cover up an accident that the whole world already knew about?" said a defiant railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping. "They told me they buried the car to facilitate the rescue effort -- and I believe this explanation."

 

Wang was terse when reporters asked him to explain the fact that a toddler girl was being pulled out of the wreckage alive 20 hours after the accident -- and long after authorities declared no more signs of life in the trains.

 

"That was a miracle," he said.

 

Blaming lightning strike-triggered equipment failure as the cause of the accident based on preliminary investigation, Wang put on a brave face on the safety of China's controversial high-speed rail.

 

"Chinese technologies are advanced and we are still confident about that," he said.

 

While some state media echoed Wang's sentiment, many netizens questioned his every statement from the death toll to the cause and called him the face of a ministry mired in allegations of corruption and ineptitude.

 

"This land is a hotbed for the world's most sprawling bureaucracy and most cold-blooded officials," user "chenjie" wrote on Sina Weibo.

 

Netizens also dug up an old video clip showing the railway ministry's chief engineer proudly telling state television in 2007 that China had developed modern technologies to ensure bullet trains never rear-end each other.

 

The quick sacking of three top local railway officials in Shanghai -- who were in charge of the affected rail lines -- failed to placate the public, either. The announced new Shanghai railway chief prompted more scorn than applause, as the replacement -- the railway ministry's chief dispatcher -- was once demoted for his role in another fatal train accident in 2008 that killed 72 people.

 

In a user-generated opinion poll on Sina Weibo on the government's handling of the accident, more than 90 percent of the 30,000 respondents chose the option "terrible -- it doesn't treat us as humans."

 

Now the world's second-largest economy, and flush with cash, China has built the world's longest high-speed rail network -- boasting more than 8,300 kilometers (5,100 miles) of routes -- in a few short years. The government plans to pour over $400 billion into rail projects in the next five years.

 

The massive investment and rapid construction have long raised public doubts on the new lines' safety and commercial viability. The skeptics' voices became louder after the former railway minister -- a champion of high-speed rail -- was sacked for corruption early this year.

 

Even the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail -- the ministry's newest and proudest project -- has broken down several times since its much-touted launch less than a month ago.

 

"It's not the faster, the better," Sun Zhang, a railway professor at Tongji University in Shanghai and a long-time railway ministry consultant, told CNN last month. "We have to take safety, economics and environmental impact into consideration."

 

"Strategically we can talk about a great leap forward in the industry, but tactically we have to do things step by step," he added.

 

Back online, many users -- already jittery about safety in their daily life -- now view China's high-speed rail, long considered a symbol of the country's fast rise, as a metaphor of its troublesome approach to development.

 

"This is a country where a thunderstorm can cause a train to crash, a car can make a bridge collapse and drinking milk can lead to kidney stones," user "xiaoyaoyouliu" posted on Sina Weibo. "Today's China is a bullet train racing through a thunderstorm -- and we are all passengers onboard."

 

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At least 35 people have died and more than 200 are hurt after two high-speed trains crashed into each other in eastern China, state media reports.

 

Two train coaches fell off a bridge after derailing close to Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.

 

Chinese media report that one of the trains came to a halt after being struck by lightning and was then hit by the second train.

 

Rescue workers are at the scene, near Shuangyu town in Wenzhou.

 

It is not known how many people were on the trains at the time, but Xinhua news agency says each carriage can carry 100 people.

 

Initial reports suggested one bullet train had derailed at about 2030 (1230 GMT) - the D3115 travelling from the provincial capital Hangzhou.

 

But local television later said the first train had been forced to stop after losing power due to a lightning strike, and was then rear-ended by another train, the D301, causing two of its carriages to fall off an elevated section of track.

 

TV pictures showed one carriage lying on its side under the bridge, and the other standing on its end leaning up against the bridge. There were reports that four carriages from the other train had also derailed, but it is not known if that led to further casualties.

 

"D" trains are the first generation of bullet trains in China, with an average speed of just short of 100mph (160km/h).

 

"The train suddenly shook violently, casting luggage all around," one survivor, Liu Hongtao, was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "Passengers cried for help but no crew responded."

 

China is spending billions on constructing a high-speed rail network.

 

Last month China inaugurated its Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail link. The 300 km/h (190mph) train halves the journey time to under five hours.

 

But the project has come under fire for its high cost - the Beijing-Shanghai line cost 215bn yuan ($33bn; £21bn). It has also been blighted by power outages and other problems.

 

China is planning to roll out high-speed lines across the country.

 

The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says there are also fears corruption has compromised safety in the network's construction.

 

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BTW The offical number of victims is 39 but the number that insurance company got is 179.

 

Here's something that I saw on Sina Weibo.

 

"China, please stop your flying pace, wait for your people, wait for your soul, wait for your morality, wait for your conscience! Don’t let the train run out off track, don’t let the bridges collapse, don’t let the roads become traps, don’t let houses become ruins. Walk slowly, allowing every life to have freedom and dignity. No one should be left behind by our era."

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Finally please don't blame on me and don't talk about Tibet OK? I just want to tell the truth.

[Jackie]

i only hope one thing,the died people can be in heaven now...

[Jade]

Gosh this is such bad news I hope the survivers are okay and those who died many you Rest In Peace. <3

[130671]

The chinese are going to get massive problems in the future with the way they treat their country and the people that live in it.

 

"How can we cover up an accident that the whole world already knew about?" said a defiant railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping. "They told me they buried the car to facilitate the rescue effort -- and I believe this explanation."

 

This, in front of cameras? These guys obviously live in another world. You can become expendable very quickly if you're an average chinese person.....

[CheshireCat]

The chinese are going to get massive problems in the future with the way they treat their country and the people that live in it.

 

"How can we cover up an accident that the whole world already knew about?" said a defiant railway ministry spokesman Wang Yongping. "They told me they buried the car to facilitate the rescue effort -- and I believe this explanation."

 

This, in front of cameras? These guys obviously live in another world. You can become expendable very quickly if you're an average chinese person.....

Wang Yongping was hit by reporters later.

Today Premier Wen Jiabao went to Wenzhou and make a speech to ask the railway ministry to tell the truth.Hehe,I know they won't cause the reason why the train crash happened was the order from Shanghai railway bureau (Im not sure about it) but not the lightning.

Yeah,they live in another world,they eat and live different from us.We are worried about food industry but they aren't,they eat much more safely and cheaply than us.Their children can receive best education and medical treatment but we can't.

We want some changes.