China's government fired three railway officials as it began an investigation into a deadly crash between two bullet trains that raised new safety concerns about the country's vaunted high-speed rail system.

　　中国两辆动车严重追尾相撞事故引起人们对中国受到大肆吹捧的高速铁路系统产生新的担忧。在对事故展开调查伊始，中国政府将三名铁路部门官员免职。

　　At least 35 people were killed and roughly 200 injured when a high-speed train traveling in the eastern province of Zhejiang slammed into the rear of another train Saturday, sending four train cars plunging off a 49-foot-high bridge and derailing two others. The Ministry of Railways said Sunday it appeared the first train had lost power after being struck by lightning, but that authorities were still examining the cause.

　　Associated Press据新华社报道，周六晚8点38分，两列动车在温州境内追尾，四节车厢坠桥，另有两节车厢脱轨，造成至少35人身亡，约200人受伤。上周六，在浙江省境内行驶的两列动车发生追尾事故，四节车厢从15米高的桥上坠落，另有两节车厢脱轨，造成至少35人死亡、约200人受伤。铁道部周日说，事故似乎是在前面行驶的列车遭雷击失去动力所致，但有关部门仍在调查事故原因。

　　Rescue work continued through Sunday, with top Chinese leaders vowing that all efforts would be made to free any victims still locked inside the wreckage. The state-run Xinhua news agency said one young girl was found alive but unconscious late Sunday afternoon, some 21 hours after the crash. Service on 58 other trains in the region of the accident was temporarily halted Sunday amid the rescue work and efforts to repair the tracks.

　　救援工作到周日仍在持续，中国高层领导人誓言将竭尽全力救出废墟中的被困者。国有媒体新华社说，事故发生后约21小时，周日下午晚些时候发现了一名幸存的小女孩，当时她失去了知觉。由于进行营救及修理铁轨工作，事故发生地另外58趟列车周日暂停运行。

　　State media photos showed one train car standing almost vertical on the ground, with its upper end leaning against the edge of the bridge high above. A least one other car was visible lying tangled on the ground, with orange-clad rescue workers standing atop it. Witnesses described scenes of terror as people scrambled to get out of the devastated cars, with some jumping from the windows of the damaged train and at least one person using a Twitter-like microblogging service to plead for help, Xinhua reported.

　　官方媒体的图片显示，其中一节车厢几乎与地面垂直，上端斜靠在高架桥桥梁上。另外至少有一节车厢掉落在桥下的地上，现场一片狼藉，身穿橘色制服的救援人员站在车厢上面。据新华社报道，目击者称事故现场情况严重，人们极力想逃出损毁的列车，有些人从受损列车的车窗跳出去，至少有一人发微博求救。

　　On Sunday night, the Railways Ministry said it had dismissed the chief, deputy chief and Communist Party secretary at the Shanghai Railway Bureau, which administers the railways in much of eastern China. The brief statement didn't say specifically what they were thought to have done wrong but said they would be investigated over the accident.

　　周日晚间，铁道部说已将上海铁路局正副局长和党委书记撤职。上海铁路局负责管理华东地区的大部分铁路。铁道部的简短声明未具体说明三人有何过错，但说他们会因此次事故接受调查。

　　The government's initial account of the incident left several important issues unclear, including why the second train was allowed to proceed despite the first train's crippling malfunction. Modern rail systems are supposed to have fail-safe measures to prevent such occurrences. The government dispatched Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang to the scene to oversee rescue work and investigation. Xinhua paraphrased on Sunday night him as saying investigators “will find out the cause of the accident and those responsible will be seriously punished according to laws.”

　　政府最初的事故报告未对几个重要问题做出解释，其中包括在前面那辆车出现严重故障的情况下，后面那辆车为何还得以继续行驶。现代铁路系统应该有自动保险装置防止此类事故发生。国务院副总理张德江被派往事故现场监督营救和调查工作。新华社周日晚援引他的话说，调查人员会查明事故原因，依法依规严肃处理相关责任人员。

　　The accident is the latest in a series of recent problems that have plagued the high-speed rail system.

　　中国高铁系统最近出现了一系列问题，此次事故是最新的一起。

　　China's is the world's largest such network, with an estimated total cost of nearly $300 billion and plans for 16,000 kilometers of track by 2020.

　　中国高铁是世界最大的高铁网络，建设总成本近3,000亿美元，计划到2020年高速铁路达到1.6万公里。

　　The government has trumpeted the project as a symbol of rapid technological development, with the Railways Ministry recently boasting that its technology is superior to that of Japan's famous Shinkansen. Premier Wen Jiabao helped mark the opening of the system's prized Beijing-Shanghai line late last month on the eve of the ruling Communist Party's 90th birthday.

　　Europoean Pressphoto Agency图为事故发生后，救援人员在列车车厢残骸上作业。政府宣称这项工程是快速科技发展的标志，铁道部最近夸口说中国的技术优于日本闻名的新干线技术。上个月，执政党中国共产党建党90周年纪念前夕，国务院总理温家宝出席了备受重视的京沪高铁的开通仪式。

　　Backers say the system is bringing economic benefit by reducing travel times between cities. Critics argue that the project has been wasteful and overly expensive, and many Chinese complain that high ticket prices aren't suited to average people.

　　支持者说高铁系统通过减少城际的旅行时间带来了经济利益。批评者则认为，高铁项目铺张浪费、过于昂贵，许多中国民众表示不满，认为高票价不适合普通人。

　　In February, Railways Minister Liu Zhijun, who had championed the project, was fired amid a major corruption investigation. His successor, Sheng Guangzu, has scaled back expansion plans to focus on projects already under way, offered lower ticket prices, and slowed the top speeds on the network to 300 kilometers an hour from 350 or higher─undercutting what had been a source of pride for the system's backers.

　　今年2月，曾支持该项目的铁道部部长刘志军在一起贪腐大调查中被撤职。他的继任者盛光祖缩小了高铁扩张计划，将重点放到已经在建的项目上；此外，还下调了京沪高铁的票价，并将最高时速从350公里甚至更高降至300公里，削弱了这个令高铁支持者感到骄傲的项目。

　　This month has seen service on the Beijing-Shanghai line suspended at least three times because of technical problems. The Railways Ministry spokesman publicly apologized for the mishaps, blaming some of the delays on severe lightning.

　　本月，京沪高铁至少由于技术问题而停运了三次。铁道部发言人就停运公开道歉，将部分延误归咎于严重雷雨天气。

　　Much of the technology for China's bullet trains was acquired over the past decade from foreign train producers including Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Siemens AG and Alstom SA that pioneered high-speed rail. It wasn't immediately clear which, if any, of those companies were involved in producing the trains in Saturday's accident.

　　中国高铁技术大部分是过去10年从外国火车制造商那里买来的，其中包括率先开发出高铁技术的川崎重工业(Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.)、西门子(Siemens AG)和阿尔斯通(Alstom SA)。目前尚不清楚上述公司是否参与生产了上周六发生事故的列车；如果是，又是哪些公司参与了生产。

　　China's government has said its state-owned train producers advanced the technology, including by making the trains go faster─a move that some train-industry experts warned could be dangerous. There was no initial indication that this issue was a factor in Saturday's accident. Experts said high-speed trains in the area of the accident generally travel well below top speeds because the rail line snakes through hilly terrain.

　　上周六，在浙江省境内行驶的两列动车发生追尾事故，四节车厢从15米高的桥上坠落，另有两节车厢脱轨，造成至少35人死亡、约200人受伤。中国政府一直说，中国国有火车制造商开发出了高铁技术，包括提高了列车的运行速度；而据一些铁路行业专家警告说，提高运行速度的做法可能是危险的。目前没有迹象显示速度是导致上周六事故的一个原因。专家们说，由于事故发生地区的铁路轨道穿行于丘陵地带，那里的高铁运行速度通常远远低于最高时速。

　　Saturday's incident is among China's worst train accidents in years. In 2008, a high-speed train jumped its tracks and slammed into another train in Shandong province, killing more than 70 people and injuring hundreds of others. That was the worst accident since 1997, when a collision killed more than 100 people.

　　上周六的事故是多年来中国最严重的火车事故之一。2008年，山东省一列高速列车脱轨，与另外一列列车相撞，造成70多人死亡，另有数百人受伤。那起事故是1997年以来最严重的火车事故，1997年的一次列车相撞事件造成100多人死亡。

　　The latest accident occurred at 8:38 p.m. local time near the city of Wenzhou, when train D301 from Beijing collided with train D3115 traveling from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou, the government said. It wasn't clear how fast D301 was traveling, nor how long D3115 had been stalled, though Xinhua quoted one passenger saying it had been motionless for more than 20 minutes and had just started moving again when struck.

　　政府说，上周六的事故发生于当地时间晚上8点38分，事故地点是在温州市附近，当时从北京始发的D301次列车与从浙江省会杭州市始发的D3115次列车相撞。不清楚D301次列车当时的运行速度是多少，也不清楚D3115次列车停了多长时间，不过新华社援引一位旅客的话报导说，有20多分钟都没有动，刚刚重新开车就撞上了。

　　An executive at one of the biggest foreign suppliers of high-speed train technology to China said it is unusual, though not unprecedented, for high-speed trains to be halted by lightning. He also said the accident suggested a serious deficiency in the rail network's 'automatic train stop' or ATS system, a critical backup measure that is supposed to halt trains under certain situations such as when a rail line is obstructed.

　　中国最大的外国高铁技术供应商之一的一位高管说，高铁列车因雷击停车很少见，不过也并不是前所未有的。他还说，这起事故显示了铁路网络自动停车系统的严重不足。自动停车系统是一种重要的备用装置，可以在某些情况下停车，比如轨道上有障碍物。

　　“Obviously, ATS was not functioning properly,” said the executive. “It makes me not want to ride high-speed trains in China─not until they get to the bottom of what happened in Wenzhou,” he said.

　　这位高管说，显然，自动停车系统当时没有正常运转。这让我不想在中国乘坐高铁，直到他们弄清楚温州事故的原因为止。

　　Many Chinese voiced similar concerns on Sina Weibo, the most popular of China's Twitter-like microblogging sites.

　　很多中国民众在中国人气最高的微博网站新浪微博上表达了类似的担忧。

　　One user, using the name Connie_Kangli, said she would “never take D trains in the future again, unless I have no other alternatives and am forced to take one.” Another noted the spate of recent malfunctions and questioned the system's technology. “Officials always assured us that engineers working on high-speed rail technology are the best in China, and that the technology they came up with was the most advanced.”

　　一位网名为Connie_Kangli的用户说，不到万不得已我绝不坐动车！另外一位用户则指出了最近一系列的故障，并质疑高铁技术。这位用户说，官员们总是向我们保证，负责高铁技术的工程师是中国最好的，他们拿出来的高铁技术也是最先进的。