A symbol of what is wrong on so many levels
July 26, 2011 by Jules
A high speed train crash in China on July 22 was a symbol of so many things that are wrong in China management, not just in the government.
For the most interesting view of government coverage, go here: unbiased long-running media project. A longer range viewpoint can be found here.
Below are extracts from our favorites SCMP and FT sources:
China’s high-speed rail network was hit with fresh problems on Monday August 25 when 20 bullet trains on the new line between Beijing and Shanghai were delayed for more than three hours because of a power failure, just days after power problems caused a deadly crash.
It was at least the fifth such failure since the line opened a month ago, and a stark reminder of the quality concerns now surrounding China’s rush to build the world’s biggest high-speed rail system.
China’s bullet trains began running in 2007 and, in a burst of spending, the government has built nearly 10,000km of high-speed rail tracks. That is roughly four-times the length of Japan’s Shinkansen lines, which have been operating for 47 years without a single passenger death due to collision or derailment.
Both trains in the crash were made by China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock (CSR). A CSR spokesman denied there was anything defective with the trains, placing blame on a signalling problem. The team investigating the accident had travelled to Beijing to present their findings to the top leadership and will hold a news conference on Wednesday, state media reported.
Seiji Abe, a professor at Kansai University and an expert on railway safety management, said Japan’s bullet rail system had a fail-safe brake system that prevented two trains from getting too close to each other.
And to us, here in a nutshell, is the explanation for much of the quality problems found in China: from high speed trains to machines, prevention and failsafe are unknown, or if known they are just seen as unnecessary and expensive.
The Chinese management view of a product is that once it is out of the door the buck has passed to the next sucker (sorry, we meant to the buyer) and management is off the hook. There is an EXPECTATION that the buyer understands this well and acts accordingly.
Do you ?
In: Market News