A new railway line being built as part of an upgrade ahead of the Beijing Olympics was a factor in a train crash that left 71 people dead in east China, officials and state press said on Wednesday. The pre-dawn crash near Zibo city on Monday, which also left more than 400 people injured, was the most severe in China in more than 10 years.
Chinese authorities on Tuesday blamed excessive speed for the nation’s worst train crash in more than a decade, amid fears the death toll would climb past 70. After the line to the seaside town of Qingdao was quickly reopened, the official Xinhua news agency cited an investigation panel as saying ”high speed” caused the accident.