Five people died and 17 were injured yesterday morning at the Dali Railway Station in Ilan County when two locomotives running in tandem smashed into the side of a train that was leaving the station.
Only four of the passengers who were killed had been identified at press time. They were Lee Chia-ching (李佳錦), Chen Yi-wei (陳逸偉), Lee Su-ching (李素欽) and Chang Hsiao-ting (張曉婷). Lee Chia-chin died on the spot.
The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) commuter train was departing from Shulin (
PHOTO: CNA
The 44-year-old engineer of the second train, Huanglin Chung-liang (
However, the train proceeded despite a warning signal and hit the commuter train between the second and third car.
The crash occurred as the nation prepares to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.
Although the crash disrupted railway transportation along the east coast, Chang said that it should return to normal by this morning.
All express trains departing from Taipei and Ilan yesterday afternoon were canceled, Chang said.
An initial TRA investigation showed that Huanglin had applied the brakes and managed to slow the train from 80kph to 40kph when he saw the signal, but the brakes were unable to slow the train sufficiently to prevent the crash.
The investigation also showed that the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system on Huanglin's train had broken during the trial run.
Huanglin had reported the failure to the management at Dali Station, the TRA said.
Huanglin has worked for the TRA for almost 20 years and has a good operating record.
TRA director-general Chen Feng-nan (陳峰男) yesterday handed in his resignation because of the accident.
Chen had previously indicated that he planned to retire next month after serving at the TRA for more than 40 years.
Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
Chang said that a full investigation into the incident would be conducted.
The TRA dispatched 10 shuttle buses to carry passengers between Shihcheng and Kweishan.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique