Yesterday was a bad day for Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) after services on both the Wenhu and Bannan Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines had to be temporarily suspended because of separate incidents.
The first incident occurred at 8:06am when an unexpected power interruption occurred at a power substation in Muzha.
The power shortage caused four trains to pause between Da-an and Zhongxiao Fuxing stations, as well as Xinhai and Linguang stations of the Wenhu line, trapping passengers inside.
PHOTO: CNA
As many as 19 other trains were also effected, TRTC spokesman Chao Hsiung-fei (趙雄飛) told reporters.
“Service was suspended on the Muzha section of the line, but we were still able to keep the rest of the line running via manual operation,” he said.
Since the incident happened during the morning rush hour, more than 1,700 passengers were affected, Chao said, apologizing for the inconvenience.
TRTC quickly dispatched shuttle buses, but this didn’t help because the buses became stuck in traffic for more than 30 minutes.
“We dispatched buses immediately after the situation occurred, but since we quickly brought everything back to normal by 8:33am, the buses did not arrive until everything was fixed,” Chao said.
“It was very inconvenient — the MRT shut down, the shuttle buses arrived late and all the taxis were full,” one Wenhu Line passenger told reporters. “I was late for work.”
“[TRTC] staffers at Liuzhangli Station only told us that the service was suspended, but could not say how long the suspension would last or what they intended to do for the passengers. We were left there on our own,” another passenger said.
“I am very upset — I was late for work, I had to take a half day off, but all I got was a ‘sorry’ from the TRTC,” the passenger said.
Service was partially disrupted on the Bannan Line after a 26-year-old man jumped onto the tracks at Shandao Temple station in the afternoon.
The interruption lasted from 3:12pm to 4pm as Taipei Fire Department personnel worked to remove the man from the tracks.
The man was conscious when he was rescued and suffered only minor injuries. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
At press time it was still unclear why he jumped onto the tracks.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS