Council vows to tackle vibrations

The National Science Council said it will help firms in the Tainan Science-based Industrial Park (台南科學園區) deal with vibrations that will come from the planned high speed railway, National Science Council Chairman Wei Che-ho (魏哲和) said yesterday.

Wei said at the Legislative Yuan that the council would help firms to enhance their ability to resist the vibrations.

"The priority now is to communicate with high-tech firms and help them understand the government's plan for the railroad," Wei said yesterday.

Wei repeated more than once on the vibration issue that problems would eventually be solved through technology.

Parts of the industrial park are only 200m from the planned rail line. Many firms believe that vibrations created by the railroad (about 68 decibels) is far beyond acceptable limits.

Since February, worries over the vibrations have resulted in a chain reaction of high-tech firms aborting projects at the park.

Most of the firms that have decided to look elsewhere are DRAM chipmakers, including Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), Silicon Integrated Systems Co (矽統科技) and Chi Mei Electronics Corp (奇美電子).

Taiwan Semiconductor Manu-facturing Co (台積電) has already halted operations at one of its factories in the park.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has initiated a project to figure out how to reduce the railroad's vibration down to about 50 decibels.

In an effort to offer a solution to the problem, officials at the Council's National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering will soon carry out a field investigation in Japan to study the structure of the Shinkansen (新幹線), the model for Taiwan's high-speed railroad.

Wei said that the earthquake project would do its best to help companies to lower vibrations down to about 48 decibels, which most high-tech firms say they can accept.

Tainan County residents established a self-help group to call for a solution to the vibration problem.

Hou Shui-sheng (侯水盛), a former National Assembly member who leads the group, urged the government to place a train stop at the park in an effort to lower noise and vibration from the high-speed train.