At Least 35 Killed and 210 Hurt in Crash of 2 Trains in China

By IAN JOHNSON

Viewpoint : Is this a case of Poor Quality in : Planning, Anticipating failures, Execution or ??

BEIJING — -At least 35 people died and 210 were injured Saturday night in a train accident on a high-speed line in coastal China. It was the most serious blow yet to the country’s beleaguered rail-modernization program.

The accident occurred when a train traveling near Wenzhou lost power after it was struck by lightning, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Signals apparently also malfunctioned, causing another train to rear-end the stationary train. Six cars derailed; photographs and television news reports showed that at least two of the cars were thrown off a bridge 50 feet above the ground.

The disaster prompted President Hu Jintao to declare that the rescue work was a national priority. Xinhua had graphic photos of the injured being treated in hospitals and locals lining up to donate blood.

China’s railway minister, Sheng Guangzu, was reported to have rushed to the scene. Mr. Sheng took control of the powerful ministry earlier this year after his predecessor and several associates were fired and investigated for corruption.

China plans to invest more than $100 billion a year for the next three years in high-speed rail.

But the speed of the expansion has raised eyebrows. Foreign companies contend that state-run Chinese firms have stolen some of their technology.

Revelations of shoddy construction also have surfaced in the state-run news media since the firings at the Railway Ministry, a sign that the government is concerned that its huge investment has been at least partially squandered.

Construction on new lines has slowed since the new team leading the ministry began focusing efforts on improving safety. A high-speed line between Kunming and Shanghai is months behind schedule because officials are now making safety a high priority, according to interviews with subcontractors working on the project.

In addition, the newly opened Beijing-Shanghai line has been plagued by delays and shutdowns. That prompted the Railway Ministry to announce Saturday that it was reducing service on the flagship line as a result of low ridership.

News of the accident near Wenzhou quickly become a hot topic on Sina Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. “Taking a fast train is meant to be safe and fast; who would have thought that now it is only fast?” one posting said. Another added, “It’s more dangerous to run on the ground than fly in the sky.”

Source : International Herald Tribune

Reliance, ICICI Pru, Max on top of complaint chart

By Sagar Sen, Shruti Verma Khare Jul 19 2011 , FC Research Bureau

Reliance Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and Max New York Life Insurance have received the highest number of complaints from policyholders in 2010-11. Of these, Reliance got 64,282 complaints, ICICI Prudential 48,802 and Max New York Life 25,590.

As per an Irda mandate, insurers have to reveal complaints related to unfair business practices, which come under sales-related complaints.

“Typically, sales-related issues arise when customers complain that they were not aware of certain features of the product they bought or were unaware of the charges or the policy was mis-sold to them,” said Snehil Gambhir, COO of Aviva Life Insurance.

At 89,112, sales-related complaints accounted for 30.81 per cent of the total. ICICI Prudential policyholders alone registered 36,212 or 40.64 per cent of such complaints. Complaints related to policy servicing came next at 70,165, or 24.26 per cent of the total.

Policyholders register these complaints when documents do not reach them within the period promised by the insurer or the agent. Of these, 12,883 were made against LIC till December 2010, or about 18.36 per cent of such complaints.

Complaints related to behaviour of insurance company employees or agents, or issues arising at the time of renewal that fall under others category came next at 67,115, or over 23.20 per cent of the total. Reliance got 62.18 per cent of such complaints or 41,729.

Then came new business related complaints relating to inconvenient medical tests and errors in personal data like name or address at 52,868 or 18.28 per cent of the total. Future Generali India Life Insurance got 14,115 or 26.70 per cent of such complaints.

The year saw 10,014 complaints related to claims or 3.46 per cent of the total. Of these, ICICI Prudential got 2,503 or 25 per cent.

Complaints made against insurers are generally accepted either fully or partially. In all, life insurers received 2,89,274 complaints in FY11. Of these, they fully accepted 2,60,030 and partially accepted 2,525 cases.

“Partially accepted cases are those where the insurer has accepted certain points raised by the policyholder while rejecting some concerns. Also, cases where a policyholder feels the complaint resolution provided to him is not comprehensive or is not as per his satisfaction fall under this category,” said Vikas Gujral, senior vice-president & head of operations and customer service at Max New York Life.

The highest number of rejections was made by Aviva Life at 6,898, while SBI Life rejected 6,701 and Bharti Axa Life 4,637.

Max New York Life has the highest number of pending complaints at 1,868, while ICICI Prudential and Reliance Life have 826 and 812 respectively.

Source : sagarsen@mydigitalfc.com. Thank You.