Crash forces Chinese bullet train maker to recall 54 trains
12 Aug 2011
China's high-speed train manufacturer China CNR Corp Ltd yesterday said that it will recall 54 bullet trains used on the new Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line for safety reasons.
The announcement comes a month after a crash killed 40 people and 191 injured due to faulty signalling equipment and a day after the Chinese State Council, which was presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, placed a temporary halt on all new high-speed rail projects.
The State Council said that the State Administration of Work Safety would carry out safety checks on existing lines, speed limits would be enforced and new projects would be temporary halted and approved after their re-evaluation.
"We will suspend for the time being the examination and approval of new railway construction projects," the council said in a statement.
The recall for CRH380BL model trains used on the problem-plagued prestigious Beijing-Shanghai line, which has suffered repeated delays due to equipment failures.
The 23 July crash occurred when a high-speed train from Beijing to Fuzhou stalled after a lightning strike and another high-speed on the same track collided with it after its sensors failed. This accident occurred in Southern China and not on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway line.
