Chinese train accident report to be delayed

China's official Xinhua news agency says a government report on a high-speed train crash in July will not be released in time for its mid-September deadline.

In a report released on Wednesday, Xinhua says the government's investigation panel needs more time to assess technical and management aspects of the accident. There is growing criticism of the delay on the Internet.

The accident occurred near the city of Wenzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, when a train crashed into another that was slowing down on the same track. Carriages derailed and fell from a railway bridge, killing 40 people and injuring about 190.

Xinhua says the panel simulated the accident using the same stretch of track, and conducted tests on the railway's electrical circuits to check how a lightning strike could short the signal system - the assumed cause.