An urgent but difficult reform
In fact, the ministry has carried out several trial reforms of the railway system since 1980, but there has been little progress due to the particularity of China's railways, according to China News Weekly.
The latest trail was interrupted in 2003 when former minister Liu Zhijun took his post and started a "great-leap-forward" development on the nation's railway construction, the report said.
In addition, the government did not merge the Ministry of Railways into the Ministry of Transport in 2008 because "railroad construction tasks were important," at that time, Yang Hongnian, ex-researcher with the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, told the China News Weekly. "The ministry's direct management would ensure the progress and quality of the engineering work."
However, the consecutive accidents, together with the explosion of top rail officials' wrongdoings in recent years have revealed the urgency to separate government and businesses. "The risk will be huger if the development of the rail network does not consider a reform," said Zhao Jian, professor with the Beijing Jiaotong University, who agreed that the ministry's combination of government and businesses is the crucial reasons for various problems. "This accident is the outcome of exponential development in high-speed rail construction," he told Caixin.com.
"The ministry controls the whole country’s railway planning and development, and corruption frequently arises when awarding contracts. Tax payers have paid a huge amount for the public debt taken on for the construction of high speed railways," the economic observer said in an editorial calling for a reform in the rail system.
Meanwhile, the government also realized the importance of a reform. President Hu Jintao said on April 14 that the authorities will accelerate the transformation of the railway development model. Minister Sheng Guangzu also released some signals of reform, such as giving local bureaus some freedom on ticket pricing.
However, railway insiders believe that the progress of the reform may be slow because of safety issues. If the reform is not carried out properly, railway safety may deteriorate, Yang summarized, expressing the authorities' prudence on the matter.
Improper handling of railways criticized
The Ministry of railway's improper handling of the aftermath of the train collision was harshly criticized by the public, CNTV reported.
People doubted that the ministry did its best to rescue the injured in the accident. A two and a half year-old girl Xiang Weiyi was pulled out of the debris on July 24 afternoon, hours after rescue efforts had already stopped.
"Any search and rescue should have a shrewd plan. When to stop, why to stop, decisions like that should be made very carefully. Take earthquakes for example. No one is sure whether there are any survivors or not, even 72 hours after the earthquake has taken place," the report said, citing Liu Tiemin, head of the China Academy of Safety Science and Technology, as saying.
In addition, the public also questioned whether the ministry tried to cover up evidence, as several carriages were swiftly buried just a day after the collision, according to the report.
Liu told CNTV that a quick clearing of the site would not be helpful in collecting evidence. "Evidence is crucial in any investigation. After an accident, we need to understand how one train hit the other, which parts collided, and how strong the force was," he said.
Hearing that the buried carriages would be unearthed for testing, Liu Tiemin couldn't hide his disbelief. "I don't believe it. I can't believe it. They are making a fool of themselves," he said.
Liu believed the public will respond to the ministry's improper handling. "And when you don't handle it well, the public will respond," he told the CNTV.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pledged timely and accurate information to the public on July 28. “Only by publicly disclosing the truth can the accident’s aftermath be handled successfully,” Wen said while speaking to press at the site of the deadly train crash.
"Our investigation must be held accountable to the people," Wen promised.
In addition, Wen vowed to "severely punish" those who were responsible for the deadly accident.
Compensation to victims raised
The compensation to the families of the deceased in the train crash was raised to 915,000 yuan each, Chinanews.com reported Friday.
The Ministry of Railways on July 27 promised to pay the families of the deceased 500,000 yuan each in compensation.
Premier Wen promised "reasonable" compensation for the families of the deceased on July 28 in front of more than 180 domestic and foreign journalists.
"We should let the deceased rest in peace and bring comfort to those who have lost families in this tragedy," he added.
