Crash Consequences

Investigations are under way into why the wheel-less Transrapid demonstration train collided with a maintenance vehicle Friday. Christian Wulff, premier of the German state of Lower Saxony where the crash occurred, said the collision could not have happened on commercial magnetic levitation (maglev) lines, because these would always have automated safety systems.

"If anything were on the track, a commercially operated train would be automatically halted," Wulff told reporters. "This safety feature was not installed on the test line."

He added he believed the overall maglev technology was a safe one.

"In this case we assume there was human error and a coincidence of unfortunate circumstances," he said. "The accident could not have happened on the world's only commercial maglev track, between Shanghai City and Shanghai Airport.

"Despite this accident, I am still expecting our Chinese partners to extend that track," Wulff said.

The current track in China is 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) long.

Germany hopes to sell more maglev trains, which use magnets to lift the train a few centimeters (inches) into the air and propel it.

Two Americans killed

Alexander Retemeyer, a public prosecutor, meanwhile said two of those killed were US nationals, but most of the dead came from two small German towns. The train carries visitors during durability tests. Passengers were family members and friends of employees at IABG, the track's operator. Others worked for the energy provider RWE, officials said.

He said investigators were concentrating on what happened in the control room of the system, where a green light had been given for the train to proceed although the maintenance vehicle was doing its daily check for branches and other debris on the track.

Local officials said the wrecked train would be left on the track while experts combed the debris for more clues.

German news magazine Focus reported Saturday that among the 10 survivors of the crash had been the two crew of the maintenance vehicle. They had jumped clear as the Transrapid came hurtling towards them at 170 kilometers per hour.

Spokesman Dieter Sturm of the Emsland regional district said the identification of the human remains was continuing. All injured survivors were now in stable condition, Sturm said.

It was Germany's deadliest railway crash since a high-speed Inter City Express passenger train crashed into a bridge support in the town of Eschede in 1998, killing 101 people in the nation's worst train wreck.

Transport minister to discuss future

The maglev train was developed by German firms Siemens and ThyssenKrupp in the 1980s. The 31.5-kilometer test track has been in operation since 1984.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to the crash scene on Friday. Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee arrived Saturday at the crash scene from China where he had discussed a maglev sale and other issues.

Tiefensee has scheduled a meeting with the train developers on Sunday to discuss the ramifications of the crash and figure out whether it will have consequences for Transrapid's future.