In response, the government issued directives to restrict media coverage, which was met with limited compliance, even on state-owned networks.

[16] Should the driver disregard this information by overspeeding, or enter a danger zone, the Vital Computer can make an automatic brake application.

The fuzzy and confused official announcements up to 31 July gave increasing hints that a lightning strike caused some wayside-mounted piece of signal equipment to malfunction (the official investigation report in December 2011 identified a trackside LKD2-T1 signal assembly which malfunctioned after being struck by lightning, causing a false indication in the control center that a section of track was unoccupied).

"[12] On 4 August 2011 a high-ranking work safety official ruled out the possibility of natural disaster having caused the train crash.

"Now I can say for sure that this is not a natural disaster," Huang Yi, the spokesman and a leading official with the State Administration of Work Safety, said during an on-line chat hosted by people.com.cn, the online arm of People's Daily.

[9] On 23 July, at roughly 20:00 CST, CRH train D3115 (CRH1-046B), carrying 1,072 people[20] and travelling from Hangzhou to Fuzhou South came to a halt over a viaduct near the Ou River.

[23] A much more detailed description of what happened in the accident, correcting earlier accounts, was published in the December 2011 report of the official investigation.

This had caused an incorrect indication in the control center that the track section containing train D3115 was unoccupied (the so-called 'green signal').

Chinese Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao and Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao called for "all-out efforts to rescue passengers".

[35][36] The Chinese government had sacked railways minister Liu Zhijun in February 2011, for allegedly taking over 800 million yuan in kickbacks connected with contracts for high-speed rail expansion.

[8] Zhang Shuguang, the deputy chief engineer of China's railways, was also arrested in February 2011 and alleged to have amassed $2.8 billion in overseas accounts.

Sheng Guangzu apologised for the collision on behalf of the Railways department and said the campaign would focus on improving China's high-speed network.

[45] To stimulate ridership, which had suffered due to concerns about safety, on 16 August 2011 ticket prices on Chinese high-speed trains were reduced by 5 percent.

[47] Quality and safety concerns will likely have a serious impact on China's ambition to export cheap high speed train technology to other countries.

[48] In November 2011, the state-controlled The Beijing News reported that an investigation by the Chinese government into the collision has concluded that "poor management of the local railway administration" was to blame.

[49] The final report, which was released after a delay in December, found 54 officials responsible along with flaws in the design of the local control centre and some onboard components.

[57][58] The ban was flouted[59] by Beijing-based weekly The Economic Observer, which published an eight-page feature[31] on 30 July, with a front-page letter pledging to pursue the truth on behalf of Xiang Weiyi, the 2-year-old survivor who was orphaned in the crash.

On orders from the authorities, the rescue effort concluded less than a day following the accident, and the damaged train cars were seen being broken apart by backhoes and buried nearby.

[69] Images of the wreckage being shovelled into the pits were circulated widely on the Internet, and led to speculation over a possible mishandling by the government or concealing evidence crucial for the ongoing investigation.

[10] Ren Xianfang, senior analyst at IHS Global Insight in Beijing, said that the pace of development in China had been "phenomenal", but warned it could not be sustained in the long run.

[51] MOR Spokesman Wang Yongping gained particular notoriety online, with netizens parodying his various statements and attacking his credibility and character.

Wang endured severe stress throughout the negative publicity online, and he was eventually transferred to a position at the Organization for Cooperation of Railways in Poland on 18 August.

The high-speed rail woes added to negative market sentiment from the US debt deadlock, sending the Shanghai Composite Index down 3 per cent to 2,688.75.

[10] Edwin Merner, the president of Atlantis Investment Research Corp. in Tokyo, reckoned the crash would cause a temporary loss of trust in Chinese railway technology.

In an editorial titled "Chinese government must stop cover-ups, trivializing life", the Daily Yomiuri called for the national overhaul of signaling systems and lauded the role of social media.

"[77] David Bandurski wrote in the International Herald Tribune that the accident and its response was "emblematic of a callous, unresponsive political culture that prioritizes instant results over public well-being and accountability."

Bandurski called China's high-speed rail development an unsustainable venture mired by political intrigue, corruption, and a 'Great Leap Forward'-style mentality.

[78] Conversely, Robert Zeliger of Foreign Policy drew comparisons between China's railway safety record and those of India and the United States.

Citing journalist Lloyd Lofthouse, Zeliger points out that between 2007 and the time of the Wenzhou crash, 20% of the 177 accidents during this period actually occurred in the United States, 15% in India, and only 4% in China.

[79] Meanwhile, the Hindustan Times, while criticizing the Chinese government's response, recognized the need for India to "learn from" China's accident and apply further scrutiny to its own rail networks.