'Rising premiums not seen in compensation'

BEIJING - China's railway regulator has collected tens of billions of yuan in insurance premiums while insurance compensation has remained unchanged for decades, Chinese media reported on Thursday after a fatal high-speed train collision raised public concern over compensation.

The Ministry of Railways collected 16.9 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in accident insurance premiums from 1999 to 2010, according to a report by the 21st Century Business Herald.

The ministry has never revealed the exact amount of its income from insurance premiums, and the calculation of the total was based on railway regulations that require 2 percent of the ticket price to be levied as an accident insurance fee, said the newspaper.