China freezes rail projects

CHINA has frozen approval of new railway projects and halted some bullet train manufacturing after the collision last month that killed 40 people.

The crash, with delays on a new Beijing-Shanghai line blamed on equipment failures, have embarrassed the communist government and fuelled public anger at a bullet train network critics say is dangerous and too costly.

The railway minister promised a nationwide safety inspection and also announced further reductions in the top speed of bullet trains following cuts in April.

“This accident exposed the weaknesses lying in the railway transportation safety and management,” said Sheng Guangzu on the Cabinet website.

The announcement adds to signs Beijing is scaling back plans that called for expanding the high-speed network 13,000km of track by the end of this year and 16,000km by 2020.

The system is a prestige project for the Communist Party and is meant to showcase China’s growing technological prowess.

But the July 23 crash made it a target for complaints about the human cost of recklessly fast development.