Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Thursday that safety is a top priority for China's high-speed railway to win trust from foreign countries.

"The high-speed railway development should integrate speed, quality, efficiency and safety. And safety should be put in the first place," said Wen when meeting reporters at the scene of a fatal train crash Saturday.

"Without safety, high-speed trains will lose their credibility," Wen said, adding that China's high-speed trains will obtain global trust only when they are "really safe".

In the recent years, China's high-speed railway has seen a significant progress, Wen said. "However, the deadly accident has reminded us to attach more importance to the safety of the high-speed railway construction."

"I believe that relevant departments will draw lessons from the accident," Wen said, urging them to improve work and management, as well as make breakthroughs in core technologies, in a bid to ensure the safety of the country's high-speed railway.

Scientific planning, reasonable designing and orderly development are principles for China's future railway construction, he said.

The high-speed train rear-end collision that happened late Saturday near the city of Wenzhou in east Zhejiang Province has left 39 people dead and 192 others injured.