Two trains collided head-to-tail at around 8 PM Sunday in northeast China, throwing five carriages off the track, killing six passengers and injuring 30, according to the Ministry of Railways.

At about 7:52 PM on Sunday, the K127 passenger train traveling from northwestern Xi'an City to northeastern Changchun City collided into the tail of a cargo train that was going from Changchun to the northeastern coastal city of Dalian.

An earlier report from the northeastern province of Liaoning, where the accident reportedly occurred, said at least one passenger was killed and attributed the derailment to a sudden power failure.  

However, the Liaoning report didn't mention any train collision, and said the number of the injured remained unclear.

Southward trains from Changchun to Dalian in northeast China resumed early Monday after a train derailment.

Thanks to overnight emergency repairs, railway traffic from Changchun to Dalian resumed at 5:05 AM, said sources with Shenyang Railway Bureau.

Yet repair work is continuing to restore traffic the other way round, they said.

The Changchun-Dalian railway is the southern part of the landmark electric railway between Harbin and Dalian, China's first electric railway in northeast China operational from 2001.

Investigations are underway.

(Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2005)