Two passengers were injured when a Tzuchiang-class express train derailed in Hualien County yesterday afternoon, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said.
The derailment occurred at 2:49pm when the train, which had begun its trip at Kaohsiung’s Sinzuoying Station and was carrying 200 passengers, was on its way to Hualien, the TRA said.
The Nos. 7, 8 and 9 carriages derailed when the train was between Fuyuan (富源) and Guangfu (光復) stations, with the latter two carriages overturning on the side of the tracks.
Photo: CNA, provided by a member of the public
The No. 7 carriage was left severely tilted to one side.
Two female passengers sustained minor injuries and were taken to the Taipei Veterans’ General Hospital Fonglin Branch in Fonglien (鳳林).
The TRA said the derailment also damaged three transmission towers, 100m of power lines, 300 pre-stressed concrete sleepers and 300m of track.
Photo: Wang Chin-yih, Taipei Times
Full operations on the damaged section of track are due to resume by 12pm today.
The TRA said that the derailment had affected the schedules of 37 trains and an estimated total of 5,300 passengers.
Yesterday’s incident was the second derailment on the Hualien-Taitung line this month.
On June 4, high temperatures were suspected to have caused the tracks to deform, leading to a derailment of a northbound Chukuang-class train.
The temperature of the affected tracks was recorded at 63°C, higher than the 60?C the tracks are designed to withstand.
None of the 50 passengers on that train suffered major injuries, but the incident severely damaged 250m of train track.
Asked about the cause of yesterday’s derailment, the TRA said that the temperatures on the track were measured at 54?C, which did not exceed the temperature limit.
It said footage from surveillance cameras on the train did not indicate any unusual occurance and that an investigation would be conducted to determine the cause of the incident.
The deformation of the tracks could have been caused by derailment or by the train driver applying the emergency brakes, it said.
The design of the tracks could be flawed as well, the TRA added.
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