Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said the city government would consider suspending the Muzha-Neihu MRT line for a thorough inspection, acknowledging for the first time that problems on the system were bigger than previously thought.
“Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems [DORTS] did not expect so many problems on the line and the situation is beyond what it can handle,” Hau said at Taipei City Hall.
Hau said the line’s system builder, Bombardier Inc, has sent its Asia region vice president to Taipei to address the frequent malfunctions on the overly sensitive system.
The company agreed to offer a comprehensive improvement plan and raise the system’s stability to 99 percent by mid-November.
In response to some experts’ suggestions that the line should be suspended for inspection, Hau, who had said halting the new MRT line was not an option, backtracked yesterday, saying the city government would discuss the possibility after Bombardier presented its improvement report.
“Of course [halting the line] will be our last resort because more than 100,000 residents in Muzha depend on the line to commute every day,” he said.
BLAME
Hau blamed DORTS and the contractor for the problems, saying that Tom Chang (常歧德), former DORTS director, had stepped down last week to shoulder the responsibility.
The line has experienced three system breakdowns and countless malfunctions since operations began on July 4.
DORTS and Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation are considering shortening the system’s operating time and conducting system inspections at night. Hau once again called on the public to give the city government more time to solve the problems facing the line.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS