On November 27, 2025, in the early morning Beijing time, the mainland railway system witnessed two serious accidents involving trains colliding with construction workers, resulting in a total of 13 deaths and 2 injuries. This has raised concerns in society about the safety management of railway maintenance.
According to a report from “Jiemu News,” at 12:27 AM on the 27th, train No. 21016 of the Baocheng Railway collided with two maintenance workers working on the railway line in Deyang, Sichuan, resulting in the deaths of both workers. It is understood that both workers were dispatched laborers, and the cause of the accident is still under investigation.
On the same day, as reported by “Xinhua News,” at 12:35 AM, test train No. 55537 testing earthquake equipment collided with construction workers on the tracks at a curve in Luoyangzhen Station, Kunming, causing 11 deaths and 2 injuries.
In recent years, there have been several accidents in the mainland railway system involving trains colliding with construction workers.
According to previous reports from mainland media, on June 4, 2024, a freight train in Jiamusi collided with construction workers illegally on the track, resulting in the deaths of 6 workers.
On June 4, 2021, at 5 AM, train No. K596 traveling from Urumqi to Hangzhou collided with railway construction workers at the 361+401 km mark on the Lanxin Line, resulting in 9 fatalities.
These tragedies highlight the long-standing safety hazards and management issues in railway construction safety.
A recent analysis by “Tea Cup Filled with Time” on Baidu pointed out that although the railway system generally implements the “window maintenance” system to theoretically avoid the risk of trains coming into contact with personnel, the dual protection system of “station liaison officer + on-site guardian” relies heavily on manual execution. If communication breaks down or operations are not standardized, it can easily lead to major accidents.
A significant amount of railway construction and maintenance work is predominantly carried out by dispatched laborers with limited abilities in emergency judgment and communication coordination. Some units also rush to complete projects, compressing safety procedures and accumulating risks.
Therefore, it is recommended that railway safety management should transition from relying on manual “human defense” to technical monitoring “technical defense,” including smart warnings, automatic isolation systems, etc., to ensure that the “window maintenance” truly becomes a safety window rather than a gateway to life and death.