Century-old railway line has a history of disasters

The century-old Jiaoji Railway line, linking the Shandong cities of Qingdao and Jinan , has been the scene of tragedy before.

Yesterday's crash came just before a plan to shift passenger traffic from the line to a new Jinan-Qingdao high-speed link ahead of the Olympics, leaving just cargo trains to ply the old 384km route.

In January, a high-speed train travelling at 200km/h ran over a group of maintenance workers in the dark near Anqiu , killing 18. The deaths added fuel to already heated discussions about safety related to the mainland's railway acceleration projects.

The government has spent billions of yuan to increase train speeds six times since 1997 to keep up with the country's breakneck economic growth. Passenger trains have increased speeds from about 100km/h to up to 250km/h.

The Jiaoji route was dogged by protests and battles in the early days of its operation.

In 1897, the weak and corrupt Qing dynasty administration allowed German troops to occupy Qingdao and start construction of the line to transport minerals from inland to the eastern port. Thousands of farmers in the town of Gaomi protested against the exploitation, destroying construction equipment before authorities intervened.

In 1904, the line began operating but a decade later was under Japanese control. Apart from a brief period, it remained in Japanese hands until 1945.