China high speed rail scandal claims new victim

Alleged corruption in China’s $300 billion high speed rail initiative has led to the dismissal of Zhang Shuguang, deputy chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways (pictured), who has played a high-profile role in a program that will soon produce trains with a cruising speed of 300 mph.

China’s official news agency, Xinhua, announced his firing Tuesday for “severe violation of discipline,” a charge that in the past has proved to be the equivalent of corruption. It followed the dismissal last month of railway Minister Liu Zhijun on similar charges.