At Least 11 Killed After Train Slams into Group of Railway Workers

At least 11 people have died in China after a train struck a group of railway workers, marking one of the deadliest accidents on the country’s rail network in years.

The incident occurred at Luoyang Town Railway Station in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in Southwest China. The train, which was testing earthquake detection equipment, hit the construction workers on Saturday. Two others were hospitalized with injuries.

According to the Kunming Railway Bureau, the test train “was passing normally through a curve inside Kunming Luoyang Town Station when a collision happened with construction workers who had entered the track area.”

State-run media reports that railway authorities and local officials immediately launched an emergency response plan following the crash. Services at the station have since resumed, while officials continue to investigate the cause of the accident.

The Kunming railway authority offered condolences to the victims and their families and said that those responsible will be held accountable under Chinese law. Authorities also emphasized the need to “draw profound lessons from the accident” and pledged to prioritize railway safety going forward.

China operates the world’s largest rail network, spanning more than 160,000 kilometers and handling billions of trips annually. While the system is often praised for its speed and efficiency, it has faced scrutiny after several serious incidents over the years.

Notable accidents include a 2011 crash in Zhejiang Province that killed 40 people and injured 200, a 2022 derailment in Guizhou Province that killed a conductor and injured eight, and a 2021 collision in Gansu Province that killed nine workers. The worst recent disaster occurred in 2008, when two passenger trains collided near Zibo in Shandong Province, killing 66 people.