Causes of the Wenzhou high-speed train collision
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This morning (the 28th), the State Council investigation team into the Wenzhou high-speed train collision held its first plenary meeting in Wenzhou. The team is composed of officials from the Work Safety Administration, the Inspection Department, the Ministry of Railways, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, and Zhejiang Province, with the Railway Transportation Prosecution Office of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate also invited to participate. The Shanghai Railway Bureau has drawn lessons from this accident and released a preliminary analysis; the incident was mainly caused by serious design flaws in the signaling equipment at Wenzhou South Station, which led to red lights displaying as green lights (an error) as a result of lightning strikes. First, after a fault occurred in the circuit equipment, the on-duty personnel did not realize that the signals might be incorrect, which indicates a lack of commitment to safety and responsibility on their part. Secondly, this signal light was designed by the Beijing Railway Communication and Signal Design and Research Institute, and it was put into use on September 28, 2009. The investigation revealed that Wenzhou South Station was unaware of the usage status of this equipment, which led to the accident. Third, on-site operation control was inadequate; Wenzhou South Station failed to carry out timely emergency responses to the accident in accordance with relevant regulations. Fourth, the accident revealed that the Shanghai Railway Bureau’s safety management was inadequate. The Ministry of Railways has ordered an urgent inspection of the signaling control systems designed by the Beijing Institute of Railway Communication and Signaling. On the 26th, the Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Railways sent dispatch orders by fax to various railway bureaus, requiring an inspection of the CTCS systems designed by the Beijing Institute of Railway Communication and Signaling (hereinafter referred to as “the institute”) starting from the early hours of July 27th. The items to be checked as per the above urgent order include the train control center programs, signal lights, rail tracks, etc., as well as testing whether the software and hardware used for signal transmission within the CTCS system remain consistent. In train control systems, signal lights are important hardware components. According to people familiar with the matter, in this rear-end collision, after the vehicle in front, D3115, slowed down, the block signal was transmitted via the rails to the following vehicles; however, the signal lights installed on the ground displayed a green signal, which caused the vehicle behind, D301, to fail to receive the red signal.
This post was last edited by hansfei on 2011-8-1 08:11. Beijing Railway Communication and Signal Design Institute. Beijing Railway Communication and Signal Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. was established in 1953 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Railway Communication and Signal Co., Ltd. The company has 12 business units, including the Train Automatic Control Research Institute, the Station Automatic Control Research Institute, the Train Operation Command Automation Research Institute, the Yard Automation Research Institute, the Power Research Institute, the Communication Design Institute, the Signal Design Institute, the Urban Rail Transit Research and Design Branch, the Building Design Institute, the Research and Development Center, the Information Center, and the Shanghai Branch ； It has 12 functional departments, including the company office, administrative management department, human resources department, asset and finance department, chief engineer’s office, production management department, marketing department, project management department, overseas business department, Party committee department, supervision and audit department, and trade union. In 2006, the \"Tsinghua-Tonghao Institute of Rail Transit Automation\" was established in collaboration with Tsinghua University to create a technology innovation platform that integrates industry, academia, and research. Sponsors the journal \"Railway Communication and Signal Engineering Technology\". In recent years, the company has been striving for excellence, achieving significant progress in all areas. At present, the company has taken on the task of integrating communication and signaling systems for high-speed railways and passenger dedicated lines. It has completed such integration projects as those for the Beijing-Tianjin, Wuhan-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou, Wenzhou-Fuzhou, Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou, Hefei-Wuhan, and East Ring Line of Hainan Island high-speed railways and passenger dedicated lines. It is currently working on integration projects for the Beijing-Shanghai, Harbin-Dalian, Guangzhou-Shenzhen-, Hangzhou-Ningbo, Xiamen-Shenzhen, and Tianjin-Qinhuangdao high-speed railways and passenger dedicated lines. The world-leading large-scale marshalling yard automation control system (CIPS), which was developed independently by enterprises and successfully implemented, and possesses complete independent intellectual property rights, has been put into use at locations such as Chengdu North, Guiyang South, and Wuhan North. It has also undertaken engineering design projects for systems such as communication, signaling, integrated monitoring, and AFC in the rail transit systems of more than a dozen cities at home and abroad. It has completed international projects such as the Tehran Metro in Iran, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, the railways in Nigeria, and the Pyongyang Metro in North Korea. As its internationalization strategy advances, it is actively involved in implementing international projects such as the Mecca Light Rail, high-speed railways in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In 2009, the company took on a project under the **Science and Technology Support Program: ‘Research on Key Technologies for High-Speed Trains in China and Development of Related Equipment – Research on Technologies and Equipment for High-Speed Train Operation Control Systems’. Through independent innovation, it developed a CTCS-3 level train control system that meets the requirements of an operating speed of 380 km/h and possesses independent intellectual property rights. This laid the foundation for further enhancing the company’s capabilities in technological innovation and achieving sustainable development.
This post was last edited by fangqiong on 2011-7-28 at 16:56. Actually, I really want to know who should be held accountable. Although at this point it might be pointless to assign responsibility, such a serious incident surely makes one feel disheartened. We keep talking about safety, safety – do we only learn a lesson when more and more lives are lost?
The design was flawed, but the review failed to detect it; installation was carried out according to the drawings, the joint testing was done carelessly, acceptance was merely a formality, and the operation procedures were not clear. A design flaw led to a whole bunch of problems. In addition to technical issues, there were also management problems; accidents that could have been avoided eventually became a reality after repeated mistakes. Anyway, if there are no mistakes in the design, everyone will be fine. Therefore, design work is very important; design is the foundation of all foundations, and the responsibilities associated with design work are extremely heavy.
Those who work in design really feel distressed; once a problem arises, all the blame falls on the designers, while everyone else shirks any responsibility
Yes, I’m currently working on security design. While putting in a lot of effort into the design process, I’m still very worried, fearing that at some point a problem might arise in some aspect of it!
This post was last edited by ROSEHOOD on 2011-7-29 at 10:42. The Railway Ministry really bears no responsibility at all; it’s always someone else’s fault, they shift all the blame completely! ! ! Do you believe it? Anyway, I don’t believe it, but what’s the point?
Why look for problems only in the design aspect, rather than in management? The fire in Shanghai was caused by welders not having valid certificates; this rear-end collision was due to errors in the design made by the designers. But does that mean it has nothing to do with management? Even if there’s a design flaw, when the scheduler says there’s no signal, can’t you make calls or something?
This is just the beginning; these days, many projects are carried out in large-scale clusters, and during construction, there is an emphasis solely on speed, which reduces the quality of work and creates numerous potential problems. The series of incidents involving bridges recently is just one example; it seems that the problems related to high-speed trains are only now starting to become apparent.