The earth is sinking under the nation’s high-speed rail line, New Public Construction Commission (PCC) Minister Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) said yesterday, warning that it could become inoperable in 10 years if nothing is done.
The soil has subsided because of excessive draining of ground water on a stretch of the line in Yunlin County and the limit of what is considered safe is fast approaching, Lee said.
“The high-speed rail can safely operate for a maximum of 10 years if the problem is kept under control,” Lee said.
“However, the area affected has expanded this year because of the water shortage problem. With more ground water being lost, 10 years has become a conservative estimate,” added Lee, who on Monday traveled to Yunlin with other government officials to inspect the high-speed rail line.
The Executive Yuan has scheduled a cross-departmental meeting on Friday to discuss the subsidence problem in Yunlin County.
Lee told a press conference yesterday that areas along the high-speed rail line have suffered the worst of the subsidence problem and while the Bureau of High Speed Rail — the agency oversees the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp's operator of the 345km line that runs the length of the nation’s western corridor — has managed to keep the difference in the angle of the line’s piers under the safety limit, the problem must be solved within 10 years or the rail system will be facing a major crisis.
Approximately 1,400km2 in Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties also have the same problems, about a 10th of the plains area on the west coast, he added.
Not only will the subsidence create safety issues on the high-speed rail line, but it will also impact on food supply and drainage if the problem is not addressed immediately, Lee said.
Lee said the government is considering imposing weight controls on about 3km of the high-speed rail line in Yunlin County as excessive weight could cause the land to subside further. The zones near the entrance to the Central Science Park also reportedly have problems with subsidence, he said.
The Central Science Park Administration said that it does not draw on ground water and the government needs to find out what is causing the land in these areas to subside, he said.
When asked if the problem meant the government would not build a high-speed rail station in Yunlin, Lee said that was a separate matter.
“The station would be useless if the high-speed rail line is unsafe,” Lee said. “If the station is to be built, we have to take into consideration the materials used for its construction and the weight of the buildings.”
At a separate setting yesterday, Chang Kuang-chih (張廣智), director of the Water Resources Agency’s hydrology division, said Changhua County’s Dacheng Township (大城) suffered the worst subsidence in 2001, with the average subsidence standing at 17.6cm, while last year the worst effects were felt in Chang-hua County’s Sijhou Township (溪州) and Yunlin County’s Tuku Township (土庫), where the average was 6.4cm.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia and AFP
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