The Puyuma Express tilting train will begin its pilot service today after passing an independent verification and validation (IV&V) process by the UK-based Lloyd’s Register Group, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said yesterday.
“To ensure that the train fulfills safety regulations in its design and test runs, we asked an independent third party to execute the IV&V procedure,” the agency said.
The TRA expected to receive confirmation of the safety certification on Monday, but it did not arrive until 10am yesterday.
Photo: Wang yi-sung, Taipei Times
It said the delay was caused by the time difference between Taiwan and the UK, adding that its officials had stayed up late on Monday night to provide the supplementary documents requested by Lloyd’s.
The TRA has scheduled the pilot service to depart Shulin (樹林), New Taipei City (新北市), at 9:20am and arrive at Taipei Main Station at 9:40am, Songshan Station at 9:48am, Yilan station at 10:52am, Luodong (羅東) station in Yilan County at 11am and Hualien station at 11:50am.
The TRA ordered 136 tilting carriages from Nippon Sharyo, 16 of which were delivered at the end of last year.
To handle the expected crowds during the Lunar New Year holiday, the agency said eight trains would pass the IV&V procedure and start operating before the holiday begins on Saturday.
To reassure the public about the safety of the Puyuma Express, the TRA has made public the IV&V certification documents from Nippon Sharyo and Lloyd’s Register Group.
The TRA said the Puyuma Express allows for 56 runs to be added to the schedule between today and Feb. 18, providing an additional 2,000 seats per day.
However, tickets for the Puyuma Express during the nine-day-long Lunar New Year holiday have already sold out, the TRA said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying