Major scientist behind high-speed rail dies at 80

Wang Mengshu, a key engineer behind China's first subway tunnel and the development of China's high-speed railways, died from illness on Thursday afternoon, his relatives said. He was 80.

He was an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Wang's relatives passed the information to the Beijing News without elaborating. In September last year, Wang was hospitalized with a cerebral hemorrhage, the newspaper said.