China would continue to "push forward" a massive expansion of the country's huge railway system, but safety concerns must come to the forefront, said Sheng Guangzu, the railway ministry's newly named Communist Party chief.

"Quality is the life of a construction project and safety is the highest priority of railway construction," Sheng said in a comments posted Monday on the ministry's website.

"(We) must place quality and safety at the centre of construction projects," he said in a weekend teleconference to rail officials around the country.

Railway Minister Liu Zhijun, who had previously occupied the ministry's Communist Party chief role, was stripped of the latter position over the weekend and put under investigation for what state news agency Xinhua called "severe violations of discipline", although officially he is still a minister.

The wording used by Xinhua typically refers to corruption.

Liu is the highest-ranking official to be placed under investigation since former Shanghai Communist Party head Chen Liangyu was dismissed in 2006 and later convicted of corruption in a case that highlighted China's graft problem.

Media reports have suggested Liu had fallen foul of authorities for pursuing rapid expansion of the rail network at all costs, but Xinhua gave no specifics of his alleged wrongdoings.

In a report last month, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post quoted Chinese experts as saying corners were likely being cut on rail construction quality in order to realise China's huge expansion plans.

It also cited 2007 Chinese media reports that revealed widespread use of substandard fly ash, a key ingredient in the cement foundations of rail tracks, as China could not produce enough high-quality fly ash.

It said the government moved at the time to quash such reports.

Sheng pledged to fight corruption in railway construction, strengthen investigations into violations and punish companies that flout rules.

Liu has headed China's railways ministry since 2003. There has as yet been no official announcement of his removal as minister. Top officials are usually first stripped of their party posts in such cases.

The 58-year-old Liu was overseeing the ambitious development of China's huge rail network, which is set to be expanded to 120,000 kilometres (74,400 miles) by 2020, up from about 86,000 kilometres last year.

China's rail system is vital to its economy as huge amounts of cargo and people are transported upon it.

Lin Yuanyuan, a Shanghai-based railways analyst with Guotai Jun'an Securities, said the expansion was unlikely to be significantly impacted.

"(Railway development) is a national strategy and will not be affected by the removal of any particular person," she said.

Liu joins a number of high-ranking officials who have recently been targeted in corruption probes.

Official graft remains pervasive in China and is a major source of public resentment toward the government despite numerous clean-up campaigns.

President Hu Jintao last month made the latest high-level vow to battle corruption, saying graft remained a serious concern and vowing Beijing would step up the fight.

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