BEIJING — Chinese investigators delivered a long-awaited report Wednesday on the deadly July 23 high-speed train crash in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou, citing a string of blunders, including serious design flaws in crucial signaling equipment.
Two former top officials of the Railway Ministry — who had been removed from their posts months before the crash over alleged corruption — were singled out for blame.
The disaster killed 40 people and injured 191. It was a serious setback to China’s hopes to turn high-speed rail into a symbol of the nation’s technological and industrial progress, and it led to an online wave of public outrage that only died down after authorities muzzled the domestic media.
Crash investigators found sloppy development of the signaling equipment, bidding irregularities in the contract to provide it and lapses by safety inspectors who were supposed to ensure its quality. When lightning struck the Wenzhou line, the wrong signals appeared, sending one high-speed train smashing into the rear of another on a viaduct. Investigators put the bulk of responsibility on the former railway minister, Liu Zhijun, and the Railway Ministry’s deputy chief engineer, Zhang Shuguang. The Associated Press
