Bombardier shares drop on China rail worries

Shares of Bombardier Inc (BBD.B-T) were lower early on Monday following a deadly train crash in China over the weekend that has raised questions about the safety of the country's fast-growing rail network.

Bombardier, the world's No. 1 train maker, has made expansion in China a priority and has three joint ventures there, including one with China South Locomotive, which built both high-speed trains involved in Saturday's crash.

A spokesman for China South Locomotive said signalling operations were to blame for the crash.

China sacked three senior railway officials following the crash, which killed at least 36 people in the country's worst rail disaster since 2008.

The safety concerns, which threaten to undermine China's plans to export high-speed train technology, were enough to push share prices of Chinese rail companies down by as much as 16 percent.

Beijing plans to invest between 3.6 trillion and 4 trillion yuan ($540 billion US to $607 billion US) in its rail sector by 2015.