World Jul. 29, 2011 - 07:16AM JST ( 20 )

BEIJING —

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged Thursday to “severely punish” those responsible for a deadly train crash that has sparked public fury and triggered fears over the safety of high-speed rail.

At least 39 people were killed and nearly 200 injured when two trains collided Saturday on the outskirts of the eastern city of Wenzhou, in the worst accident ever to hit China’s rapidly expanding high-speed network.

Wen, a popular figure with China’s masses, visited the scene of the crash as the government tries to assuage mounting anger which has dominated the media and the blogosphere in recent days.

“We will severely punish those responsible for the accident and those who hold responsibilities of leadership in accordance with the country’s laws,” said the premier, who has ordered an “open and transparent” probe into the incident.

The accident has raised questions over whether safety concerns may have been overlooked in China’s rush to build the world’s biggest high-speed rail system, a feat it has achieved in just four years.

China’s state-controlled media has been unusually outspoken in its coverage of the accident, defying directives not to question the official line.

A comment piece on the front page of the People’s Daily, the Communist party mouthpiece, said Thursday that China “needs development, but does not need blood-smeared GDP.”

“Development is of overriding importance. But development should not be pursued at all cost,” said the article, which was attributed to “the newspaper’s commentator.”

The Chinese company that designed the signalling equipment for the train line apologized on Thursday after a senior railway official said “flaws” in the system caused the crash.

“We express deepest condolences to the dead and a most sincere apology to the injured and families of the dead,” the Beijing National Railway Research and Design Institute of Signal and Communication Company said in a statement.

Shanghai Railway Bureau head An Lusheng earlier told investigators that the system “failed to turn the green light into red” after being struck by lightning, the first public admission the Chinese-made equipment was at fault.

Wen, who typically makes high profile visits to disaster sites, told reporters in Wenzhou he would have visited earlier but had been in bed sick for 11 days, the state Xinhua news agency said, without revealing the nature of his illness.

His public admission of illness was a highly unusual move in China, where the health of top leaders is considered a state secret, apparently due to concerns that sickness might affect the appearance of stability in the party.

But photographs on the central government website of Wen meeting a Japanese delegation the day after the crash appeared to contradict his claim. Analysts said this may suggest leaders had disagreed over how to handle the disaster.

Wen also called for efforts to “make China’s high-speed railway exports really safe” after observers said that the accident could scupper Beijing’s ambitions to sell the technology overseas.

Three senior railway officials have already been sacked over the disaster, and Beijing has ordered an “urgent overhaul” of national rail safety.

But that has done little to calm the furious response from the public and the media.

Anger has been compounded by allegations that authorities tried to cover up evidence by burying the wreckage, although officials said this was to help rescuers access the crash site.

Thousands of people have posted on China’s hugely popular micro-blogs, demanding to know why the driver of the second train, who was killed in the accident, was not told to stop in time.

China has ploughed huge sums of money into its high-speed rail network, which covered 8,358 kilometers by the end of 2010 and is expected to exceed 13,000 kilometers by 2012 and 16,000 kilometers by 2020.

A new $33 billion high-speed link between Beijing and Shanghai opened to passengers amid much fanfare on June 30—a year ahead of schedule—but has suffered power cuts and delays.

The high cost of the network has sparked fears over corruption, and China’s state auditor has said construction companies and individuals last year siphoned off 187 million yuan ($29 million) from the Beijing-Shanghai project.

The revelation followed the sacking of former railway minister Liu Zhijun in February, who allegedly took more than 800 million yuan in kickbacks over several years on contracts linked to the network.

© 2011 AFP