Railway authorities said Tuesday that they have removed more than 300 safety hazards from the country's railway system in an overhaul launched after a fatal high-speed train crash last summer.

Authorities uncovered 359 problems that posed potential risks to rail safety and solved 324 of them over the past year, the Ministry of Railways said in a report.

The remaining hazards will be eliminated by the end of this year, the ministry noted.

The report came about one year after a high-speed train slammed into a stalled train near the eastern city of Wenzhou on July 23, 2011, leaving 40 people dead and 172 injured.

The incident was blamed on faulty signaling equipment and mismanagement. Fifty-four officials were punished and 54 trains supplied for the high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai were recalled for modifications.

Signaling equipment on other railways was checked and lightning diffusion equipment was reinforced at more than 1,000 stations, the ministry said in its report.

Lightning caused the signal failure that resulted in the crash in Wenzhou, a previous official probe found.

The ministry imposed stricter standards for high-speed rail construction and equipment, ordered high-speed trains to run slower and beefed up emergency response preparations after the deadly accident.

The country has seen no major rail accidents since the beginning of this year, while nine people died in three accidents that occurred in railway construction, down 60.9 percent and 57.1 percent year on year, respectively, according to the report.

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