A subway train derailed Tuesday in a test run on a new line in southwestern China, killing one driver and injuring another, state media reported.

The first carriage of the train ran off the tracks in the city of Kunming in Yunnan province at 9:09 am (0109 GMT), the China News Service said. There were no passengers on board.

One driver was struck by falling heating equipment in the driver's cabin and died, while another was slightly injured and taken to hospital, the report said, citing the subway's operator, state-owned Kunming Rail Transit Co.

The city government was investigating the cause of the accident, it added.

Chinese authorities have long been accused of compromising safety in their rush to develop the country's vast transport network.

Two metro trains in Shanghai collided in September 2011, injuring 284 people, just months after a deadly high-speed rail crash in the eastern city of Wenzhou killed at least 40 in China's worst railway accident since 2008.