Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Frank Fan (范植谷), who doubles as Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) director-general, said yesterday that he and the administration would not dodge their responsibilities over mass train delays a day earlier.
Fan was referring to the delay of 138 trains, affecting more than 60,000 passengers, as a result of broken electric wires on a section of railway between Jhongli (中壢) and Yangmei (楊梅).
The problem occurred at 8:37am on Friday, the first day of the three-day 228 Memorial Day long weekend, when an overhead power line on the electrified rail system at Pusin Station (埔心) was sliced by the pantograph — the equipment on the roof of a train that collects power from an overhead cable — on a fast-moving train.
Photo: Lee Jung-ping, Taipei Times
The administration originally planned to resume operations on the track at 7:30pm on Friday. However, the resumption of services was postponed twice and normal operations were only resumed yesterday morning.
Fan yesterday held a press conference at the Taipei Railway Station to explain the incident and he bowed to apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時), who attended a TRA briefing later, also apologized for the incident, describing it as “a most unfortunate circumstance.”
Photo: CNA
He instructed that a full review of the refund system should be carried out in response to calls from the public.
Under the administration’s existing refund policy, only passengers on express trains can claim a full refund for a train delay of at least 45 minutes, while travelers on slower trains are not covered by the refund policy.
A TRA safety commission has started a probe into the incident and the investigation report may be released tomorrow.
In an unprecedented move, the TRA mobilized 52 technicians and five vehicles on Friday for an overnight repair job to replace 1.5km of electric cable at a cost of NT$15 million (US$495,210).
Fan said that the number of TRA passengers has risen every year, averaging more than 600,000 per day last year, with the number ballooning to 880,000 during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The nation’s railway infrastructure faces problems due to a lack of maintenance staff and dilapidated electric cables, Fan said.
The Western Line went electrical in 1979 and the electric cables usually have a life span of between 16 and 20 years. The cables at the Pusin Station have not been changed for 30 years. It is known that some of the electric cables on the Western Line are 34 years old.
The administration has replaced the cables between Keelung and Jhunan (竹南) in northern Taiwan, leaving 476km of old electric cables on the Western Line, and is aiming to complete the replacement of a further 22km of cables this year.
The TRA said it would need a budget of NT$2.08 billion over five years to replace all the old cables.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can