Operation postponed
Even though the initial project was finished in advance, it has failed to proceed further because of quality problems, the insider said.
According to the feasibility study approved by the State Council, the construction period of the Harbin-Dalian Passenger Railway Line was to be five and a half years. However, it only took three and a half years to finish the construction work, because those in charge had required the work to be done faster, the report said.
The line was planned to undergo integration testing and commissioning this August or September and begin trial operation at the end of the year. However, testing on several sections of the line may be postponed, as quality problems were found during supervision.
For example, roadbed settlement of some sections in Dalian City was found to exceed the limit. Insiders believed that disorders in bidding and material purchasing could be major reasons for the quality problems.
In addition, a source close to the Ministry of Railways told the magazine that Du's removal may be an extension of the government's investigation of Liu Zhijun, who headed the country's giant railway system from 2003 and has been under investigation over alleged "severe violation of discipline" since February of this year.
"Only after figuring out other officials' relationships with Liu can Liu's corruption case be cleared up," he added.
