National rail operator says all flawed cables to be replaced

China Railway Corp said that it is taking reports of substandard electric cables seriously and has conducted a thorough inspection, adding that a relevant company will replace all the electric cables purchased from Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co, media reports said Friday.

Shaanxi Aokai Cable has been found to have supplied substandard cables to subway and high-speed rail projects around the country.

China Railway, the national railway operator, said it has a zero tolerance policy on safety and has always prioritized safe operations, the Economic Daily reported Friday. Railway authorities will resolve the issue according to the law, the company said.

Several former workers said there were instances in 2015 and 2016, when Aokai's plant rebranded and shipped two batches of unidentified cables. The workers said that they were unaware of the whereabouts of the cables, the Beijing Youth Daily reported Sunday.

Commenting on whether any of the substandard cables went to overseas projects built by Chinese companies, an employee in the PR department of China Railway told the Global Times on Sunday that China Railway only leads the initial phase for China's overseas rail projects.

The China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) said on its Sina Weibo account Friday that it would immediately and unconditionally replace all the substandard cables, terminate all its contracts with Aokai, and launch a full-scale investigation of the bidding process that allowed Aokai cables to find their way into the procurement list.

CREC said it is deeply sorry for the citizens of Xi'an and vowed to complete the replacement work as soon as possible.

The Global Times was unable to reach CREC on Sunday.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine announced on Thursday a special inspection of domestic manufacturers of electric wires and cable, which will last until June.

Calls to that agency and the General Administration of Customs went unanswered outside regular business hours on Sunday.

Shaanxi Aokai Cable provided substandard cables for, among other projects, the subway system in Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the People's Daily reported on Friday.

The company also won bids for subway projects in other cities in China.

The scandal broke on March 20 when the deputy director of the National Wire and Cable Products Quality Supervision and Test Center said at a press conference that the electric cables on Subway Line 3 in Xi'an were substandard.

Besides, Aokai cables have been replaced on lines like the Baoji-Lanzhou high-speed railway, the Xi'an-Chengdu high-speed railway and the Lanzhou-Chongqing high-speed railway, the People's Daily reported.