THE Qingdao-Jinan Railway reopened to traffic early yesterday after more than 20 hours of interruption caused by a train collision that killed 71 people and injured more than 400 Monday.

A high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao, coded T195, veered off the rails in Zibo City of East China's Shandong Province at about 4:40 a.m. Monday. The derailed coaches smashed into another train, coded 5034, which was approaching from the opposite direction along an adjacent track.

Speeding caused the deadly train collision, the investigation panel set up by the State Council said yesterday.

Investigators had said Monday that T195 was traveling at 131 kilometers per hour before the accident, far in excess of the section's speed limit of 80 kmph.

Thousands of passengers were stranded at railway stations in Jinan, Qingdao and other destinations following the pre-dawn collision Monday, but most were transferred to long-distance buses.

"So far, the accident site has been cleaned up and the stranded passengers transported out,"said Wang Jun, head of the State Administration of Work Safety. "All the injured have been hospitalized and the dead have been transferred to local funeral homes."

The identities of 26 people killed in the fatal train collision have been confirmed. The names of the victims, 16 males and 10 females, can be found on the Web site Sina.com. They were mostly locals or from North and Northeast China, including at least two Beijing residents.

Eight injured passengers are also listed on the Web site, with their injuries specified.

A 42-year-old woman, one of four French nationals injured in the train crash, suffered a broken thigh and would undergo surgery this week, doctors at a local hospital confirmed.

The four French nationals injured in the train crash will be sent to Beijing for treatment, the head of a local hospital said yesterday.

The accident happened just three days before the May Day holiday when millions of Chinese holidaymakers will travel by train.

Chinese leaders Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao urged all-out rescue efforts Monday.

(Xinhua)

Third official sacked after train collision

GUO JIGUANG, former executive deputy director of the Jinan Railway Bureau, was sacked yesterday in response to the tragedy.

Guo was the third high-ranking railway official sacked over the train crash. Two other officials with the Jinan Railway Bureau"Chen Gong, former director and Chai Tiemin, former Party secretary"were reportedly sacked Monday.