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The accident is the latest in a series of problems for the high-speed network, which has been dogged by controversies, including accusations of corruption.
On Saturday, two train coaches fell off a bridge, after derailing close to Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.
The railway ministry said it had sacked the head of the Shanghai railway bureau, his deputy and the bureau's Communist Party chief.
"As leaders... they should take ultimate responsibility for the main cause of the accident," railways ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said.
Reliability concerns
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Wang Yongping Railway ministry spokesmanI should still say to people that China's high-speed rail technology is up to date and up to standard, and we still have faith in it”
The accident comes at a time
when China has been spending billions of dollars to build a high-speed
rail network across the country.
Last month it inaugurated the Beijing-Shanghai link, reducing the travel time between the two cities by half.However, the project has come under fire for various reasons.
The first amongst those has been the high cost. The Beijing-Shanghai line cost 215bn yuan ($33bn; £21bn).
To make matters difficult for the authorities, the high-profile link suffered problems due to a series of power outages soon after its launch.
That raised doubts about the reliability of the high-speed network.
The latest crash has fuelled those concerns further with questions being raised about safety.
However, Mr Wang of the railway ministry quelled those fears.
"There will be many people who think that this is a safety problem caused by high-speed rail itself," he said.
"I should still say to people that China's high-speed rail technology is up to date and up to standard, and we still have faith in it."
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