Eleven railway workers killed by test train in China’s worst crash in more than a decade

Eleven railway workers have been killed and two injured after a test train struck a maintenance team at Luoyang Town station in Kunming on Thursday, officials in Yunnan province said.

The train, which was testing earthquake-detection equipment, hit the group on a curved section of track, according to a statement from Kunming authorities issued on Thursday. Normal services at the station have since resumed while an investigation into the cause is under way.

Officials did not provide further details on why the workers were on the line during the test but said safety protocols would be reviewed.

China’s rail network, the world’s largest at more than 160,000 km (about 100,000 miles), carries billions of passenger trips each year.

The incident is China’s deadliest rail accident since a 2011 crash in Zhejiang province that killed 40 people and injured 200, prompting a national overhaul of signalling and inspection rules.

In 2021, nine workers died in Gansu province when a train entered a maintenance zone on the Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway, state media said.

Local authorities in Kunming said findings from the latest inquiry would be released once completed.

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