Railway suppliers hire ex-officials
By Lydia Chen |
July 27, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE devastating bullet train crash has cast more questions on senior managers at the Ministry of Railways as media reports said many executives of the ministry's suppliers are former senior officials.
Meanwhile, a member of the Academy of Sciences and a railway expert also warned the public that more problems may hide behind the country's high-speed railway network.
Among the 32 listed firms related to the railway sector, at least six companies have hired former railway ministry officials, according to their public reports.
China CNR Corp and CSR Corp, the country's two major train manufacturers, hired at least seven former ministry officials as presidents or board chairmen. Henan Splendor Science & Technology Co and Beijing Century Real Technology Co, both train monitoring equipment makers, have at least six former ministy officials on their payrolls.
The train that crashed in Wenzhou on Saturday was made by CSR.
Beijing Century and Henan Splendor are being questioned about the quality of their products as a 20-word statement from the railway ministry said signal operations were to blame for the accident that so far has killed 39 people.
Meanwhile, Jian Shuisheng, a member of the Academy of Sciences and a railway expert, said he is concerned about the government's multi-trillion-yuan plans to build 16,000 kilometers of high-speed railway track nationwide.
Jian, one of the members on the research team on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, told China Times that repeated power failures on the 221 billion yuan (US$34.26 billion) line are the result of several inadequate systems.
All the grid problems occurred after the overhead contact line system, which provides power to the trains, went down. The system is where problems usually occurred, Jian told the Beijing-based newspaper.
"The system experiences more friction the faster the trains go, especially in stormy weather," Jian was quoted as saying.
China has neglected design problems including inadequate planning for inclement weather along the route, Jian was cited as saying.
He added there is also no way the back-up power supply system on the trains can operate for 120 minutes as authorities have claimed.
"In theory, the back-up power can allow a train to travel 600 kilometers," Jian told the newspaper. "However, when a train needs to run at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the back-up supply just can't provide that much energy."
However, Jian added he is most worried about the track bed.
All high-speed railways in Europe use traditional track beds that are on gravel. These track beds rely on rivets to prevent any track expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, Jian said.
However, China chose to build track beds on springs to offset the impact from a running train, a new method only in the experimental stage in Germany, the report said.
Jian added the steel springs will likely show fatigue over time. Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form. Eventually a crack will reach a critical size and the structure will fracture.
Meanwhile, a member of the Academy of Sciences and a railway expert also warned the public that more problems may hide behind the country's high-speed railway network.
Among the 32 listed firms related to the railway sector, at least six companies have hired former railway ministry officials, according to their public reports.
China CNR Corp and CSR Corp, the country's two major train manufacturers, hired at least seven former ministry officials as presidents or board chairmen. Henan Splendor Science & Technology Co and Beijing Century Real Technology Co, both train monitoring equipment makers, have at least six former ministy officials on their payrolls.
The train that crashed in Wenzhou on Saturday was made by CSR.
Beijing Century and Henan Splendor are being questioned about the quality of their products as a 20-word statement from the railway ministry said signal operations were to blame for the accident that so far has killed 39 people.
Meanwhile, Jian Shuisheng, a member of the Academy of Sciences and a railway expert, said he is concerned about the government's multi-trillion-yuan plans to build 16,000 kilometers of high-speed railway track nationwide.
Jian, one of the members on the research team on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, told China Times that repeated power failures on the 221 billion yuan (US$34.26 billion) line are the result of several inadequate systems.
All the grid problems occurred after the overhead contact line system, which provides power to the trains, went down. The system is where problems usually occurred, Jian told the Beijing-based newspaper.
"The system experiences more friction the faster the trains go, especially in stormy weather," Jian was quoted as saying.
China has neglected design problems including inadequate planning for inclement weather along the route, Jian was cited as saying.
He added there is also no way the back-up power supply system on the trains can operate for 120 minutes as authorities have claimed.
"In theory, the back-up power can allow a train to travel 600 kilometers," Jian told the newspaper. "However, when a train needs to run at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the back-up supply just can't provide that much energy."
However, Jian added he is most worried about the track bed.
All high-speed railways in Europe use traditional track beds that are on gravel. These track beds rely on rivets to prevent any track expansion and contraction due to temperature changes, Jian said.
However, China chose to build track beds on springs to offset the impact from a running train, a new method only in the experimental stage in Germany, the report said.
Jian added the steel springs will likely show fatigue over time. Fatigue occurs when a material is subjected to repeated loading and unloading. If the loads are above a certain threshold, microscopic cracks will begin to form. Eventually a crack will reach a critical size and the structure will fracture.
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