BEIJING: A train ran into a group of railway workers in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming on Thursday, killing 11 and injuring two. According to officials, it was the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade.

The train, which was testing earthquake detection equipment, hit workers on a curved section of track at the city’s Luoyang Town railway station.

The station in Yunnan province has since res­umed normal services and the cause of the accident is being investigated.

Also on Thursday, two railway maintenance wor­kers died after being hit by a train in Deyang, a town in another southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan.

China’s rail network is the world’s largest, spanning more than 160,000 km and racking up billions of trips each year.

Though praised for its efficiency, it has drawn scrutiny after several high-profile incidents, such as a 2011 crash in the eastern province of Zhe­jiang that killed 40 and injured 200.

Nine people were killed in 2021 when a train in the north-western province of Gansu ran into workers on a section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025