Train collision in China kills 11 railway maintenance workers: Reports | Transport News

State-owned Xinhua says the accident involved a train testing seismic equipment.

Eleven people were killed and two others were injured when a train struck railway maintenance workers in southwestern China, according to state media reports.

The train, which was being used to conduct tests related to seismic equipment when the accident occurred, struck workers while traveling along a winding stretch of track at Luoyangzhen station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, on Thursday morning, Xinhua news agency reported.

“After the accident, railway authorities immediately activated the emergency response plan and coordinated with the local government to organize rescue efforts and medical treatment for the injured,” Xinhua said.

According to the agency, a detailed investigation into the cause of the accident is underway.

The state news outlet said rail operations at Luoyangzhen station had returned to normal after the accident, while medical treatment of the injured was “progressing in an orderly manner”.

China, which has one of the largest rail networks in the world, has experienced several fatal train accidents in recent years, although fatalities have declined greatly in recent decades.

In 2022, a train derailed near Rongjiang County in Guizhou province after hitting landslide debris, killing a conductor and injuring eight other people, state media said.

In 2020, a train derailed in Chenzhou, in the central province of Hunan, killing one person and injuring 127 others, according to state media.

China’s most recent train accident with mass casualties occurred in 2011, when a high-speed train collided with a stationary locomotive in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, killing 40 and injuring about 200.

Earlier, in 2008, about 66 people were killed when two passenger trains collided near Zibo in eastern China’s Shandong province.