Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Ending big brother's run
By Chen Yongrong and Guo Xinfeng |
July 28, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE arrogant "big rail brother," or tie lao da in Chinese, is often indifferent to passengers' needs.
THE high-speed train collision in China on Saturday has shocked the world, and the way the railway administrators have handled the aftermath has failed to reassure the public of its professionalism and the system's safety.
Saturday's crash, in which four train carriages fell off a viaduct and two derailed in Zhejiang Province, has left at least 39 dead and 210 others injured.
Although it apologized to passengers and reasserted its confidence in the high-speed train technologies, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) is facing widespread criticism.
A lightning strike has been blamed for the accident. It caused one train to lose power and shut down the monitoring system so that a following train in the same track could not be alerted. Then the stalled train was struck from behind. This is the same explanation offered by the ministry after its newly opened Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway experienced similar power cuts in the past month.
The ministry has previously declared that China's high-speed railways were designed to be "sensitive" to safety risks, but on Saturday the so-called highly protective monitoring system was not working.
Angry outbursts
"It was anything but a natural disaster ... I believe the problem lies in the overall management and scheduling," said Li Yixin, a passenger who survived the fatal crash.
Internet chatrooms and microblogging sites were filled with angry outbursts after an online video showed that a carriage of one of the trains was buried instead of being taken away for further investigations, triggering concerns that the true reason for the crash might be buried along with it.
Concerns were also raised as a toddler was found alive after the railway authorities announced there was no vital signs at the accident site and began to tear apart train carriages. The ministry, since it monopolizes the country's rail transport, has long been dubbed tie lao da, or "big rail brother" for its indifference to passengers' need, despite a raft of reforms to promote market-oriented development over the past decades.
The ministry promised to refund tickets of passengers whose rail service was canceled after the collision. However, many said it outrageous that they were told to go back to the exact booth where they purchased the ticket, which might be hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.
A resident surnamed Zhang in Tianjin City told Xinhua that it was ridiculous that he had to buy a new ticket for the same bullet train after losing one, since the system had recorded his information.
The ministry adopted a real-name ticket system for all bullet trains starting in June, but new problems have emerged, including the lack of a lost-and-found mechanism, difficult ticket refunding and possible leaks of personal information.
Debt risks, corruption and rail safety are also on the list of railway problems as the country rapidly expands its high-speed railway networks to improve transport and boost the economy. China plans to have 120,000 kilometers of railways by 2015, including 16,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.
Liu Zhijun, the former railway minister, was removed from office over an alleged "severe violation of discipline" in February this year, followed by MOR deputy chief engineer Zhang Shuguang's fall in March.
It will be a tough task for the ministry to win back public faith in railway, the most popular means of transport in China, especially high-speed train technology.
"Advanced technologies alone cannot amount to public quality and confidence," said popular TV commentator Bai Yansong.
"Public forgiveness can only be obtained by disclosing the truth. To regain public trust, the ministry has to probe the cause of the accident and honestly inform the public," said columnist Song Shinan.
"The (train collision) tragedy is inevitable since the world's most advanced high-speed rail system is running under the most backward management," said Ye Tan, a well-known economics commentator, calling for a change in the sector's management.
Not only should the ministry publish the full information of the train accident, it also should disclose how it spent each penny in all of its construction projects, she said.
(The authors are writers at Xinhua.)
THE high-speed train collision in China on Saturday has shocked the world, and the way the railway administrators have handled the aftermath has failed to reassure the public of its professionalism and the system's safety.
Saturday's crash, in which four train carriages fell off a viaduct and two derailed in Zhejiang Province, has left at least 39 dead and 210 others injured.
Although it apologized to passengers and reasserted its confidence in the high-speed train technologies, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) is facing widespread criticism.
A lightning strike has been blamed for the accident. It caused one train to lose power and shut down the monitoring system so that a following train in the same track could not be alerted. Then the stalled train was struck from behind. This is the same explanation offered by the ministry after its newly opened Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway experienced similar power cuts in the past month.
The ministry has previously declared that China's high-speed railways were designed to be "sensitive" to safety risks, but on Saturday the so-called highly protective monitoring system was not working.
Angry outbursts
"It was anything but a natural disaster ... I believe the problem lies in the overall management and scheduling," said Li Yixin, a passenger who survived the fatal crash.
Internet chatrooms and microblogging sites were filled with angry outbursts after an online video showed that a carriage of one of the trains was buried instead of being taken away for further investigations, triggering concerns that the true reason for the crash might be buried along with it.
Concerns were also raised as a toddler was found alive after the railway authorities announced there was no vital signs at the accident site and began to tear apart train carriages. The ministry, since it monopolizes the country's rail transport, has long been dubbed tie lao da, or "big rail brother" for its indifference to passengers' need, despite a raft of reforms to promote market-oriented development over the past decades.
The ministry promised to refund tickets of passengers whose rail service was canceled after the collision. However, many said it outrageous that they were told to go back to the exact booth where they purchased the ticket, which might be hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.
A resident surnamed Zhang in Tianjin City told Xinhua that it was ridiculous that he had to buy a new ticket for the same bullet train after losing one, since the system had recorded his information.
The ministry adopted a real-name ticket system for all bullet trains starting in June, but new problems have emerged, including the lack of a lost-and-found mechanism, difficult ticket refunding and possible leaks of personal information.
Debt risks, corruption and rail safety are also on the list of railway problems as the country rapidly expands its high-speed railway networks to improve transport and boost the economy. China plans to have 120,000 kilometers of railways by 2015, including 16,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.
Liu Zhijun, the former railway minister, was removed from office over an alleged "severe violation of discipline" in February this year, followed by MOR deputy chief engineer Zhang Shuguang's fall in March.
It will be a tough task for the ministry to win back public faith in railway, the most popular means of transport in China, especially high-speed train technology.
"Advanced technologies alone cannot amount to public quality and confidence," said popular TV commentator Bai Yansong.
"Public forgiveness can only be obtained by disclosing the truth. To regain public trust, the ministry has to probe the cause of the accident and honestly inform the public," said columnist Song Shinan.
"The (train collision) tragedy is inevitable since the world's most advanced high-speed rail system is running under the most backward management," said Ye Tan, a well-known economics commentator, calling for a change in the sector's management.
Not only should the ministry publish the full information of the train accident, it also should disclose how it spent each penny in all of its construction projects, she said.
(The authors are writers at Xinhua.)
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