A passenger train en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit another train early on Monday, causing "heavy casualties", witnesses and a government spokesman confirmed.

Passenger train T195, en route from Beijing to the famous summer resort Qingdao, derailed in the city of Zibo in Shandong Province at 4:43 a.m. About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch, a witness told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The derailed train hit train 5034, which ran from Shandong's Yantai city to Xuzhou in the eastern Jiangsu Province, a spokesman with the Shandong provincial government confirmed.

Medical workers who were at the site for rescue work said heavycasualties were caused, but it was hard to make an immediate headcount. "I think dozens were injured or killed," a doctor said.

Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun has arrived at the site to oversee the rescue work.

The accident has disrupted two-way traffic on the Jinan-QingdaoRailway, a pivotal route linking the provincial capital Jinan with Qingdao.

Xinhua reporters who were on their way to the site were stopped by police on a state highway far from the railway. Only ambulancesand road work vehicles were allowed to pass.

In January, a high-speed train from Beijing to Qingdao ran down a group of railway workers in Shandong Province, leaving 18 dead and nine others injured.

The workers were relocating the tracks when the train ran into the work site in Anqiu City of Shandong.

Editor: Yan