Sat, Dec 04, 1999 page2

• Once again, MRT breaks down

  RAPID TRANSIT Cracks made while repairing a crooked pin have added one more to the long list of blunders for the Department of Rapid Transit Systems

  • By Erin Prelypchan / STAFF REPORTER
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  In the latest debacle to hit the city's troubled rapid transit system in the past month, a crack was created yesterday in a pillar of the MRT Mucha line while subcontractors carried out maintenance work.

  Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) the government body in charge of construction for the line, blamed the problem on faulty maintenance by subcontractors.

  During a routine maintenance check of the lightweight Mucha line early yesterday morning, Chunghua Engineering Company, the subcontractors that built pillars for the elevated line, said they created a crack about one centimeter wide in one pillar between the Chungshan Middle School and Nanking East Road stations.

  

  Maintenance work on the Mucha line between the Nanking Road and the Chungshan Middle School stations on Thursday night left a 120cm breach in the elevated line, causing service to be cancelled north of the Chunghsiao Road Station yesterday.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

  Following the discovery, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) stopped trains on the stretch of track north of the intersection of Chunghsiao and Fuhsing Road and ran a free bus service for commuters.

  DORTS said they planned to spend 24 hours working on the line and restore operations to normal as quickly as possible.

  But DORTS spokesperson Ling Chi-yao (-漹??/CHINESE>) said the time frame for recovery may in fact be longer than 24 hours as consultants had not yet completed their assessment and the TRTC would have to conduct test runs on the line to ensure safety.

  Consultants yesterday were examining the crack and suggesting longer-term measures for fixing the problem, but DORTS' initial assessment was that a pin between the pillar and the track was put in the wrong position when Chunghua Engineering was trying adjust a tilted connection between the pillar and the track.

  Several years of wear and tear from trains travelling overhead had created the tilt, said Ling.

  A spokesperson for Chunghua Engineering was at first reluctant to acknowledge that incorrect placement of the pin during construction was the cause of the crack, saying that this was definitely an "accident." But when pressed said, "Yes, the pin was in the wrong place."

  Chunghua had placed temporary metal "H-pins" as support around the crack, and DORTS consultants would recommend longer-term measures, he said.

  The appearance of the crack yesterday is just the latest in a long series of mishaps for the MRT.

  Cracks first appeared in pillars themselves after test runs on the Mucha line began in the early 1990s -- just several years after construction by the line's many subcontractors began in 1988.

  During the two years of test runs between 1992 and 1994, trains derailed twice and brakes on trains caught fire twice.

  Another of the dozens of subcontractors on the Mucha line, the France-based Matra Transport Co., has been locked in years of legal battles with DORTS over cost overruns and delays during construction. Matra built several portions of the Mucha Line, including the trains themselves and large sections of stations.

  The majority of recent problems with the MRT system have been on the heavy-traffic network -- the Tamshui, Chungho and Hsintien lines.

  In the last month alone, the TRTC's new mainframe signal computer on that system has failed at least three times, causing major delays, near misses between trains in tunnels and inconvenience for commuters.

  The TRTC is now under intense pressure less than a month before its goal of opening a section of the new Panchiao-Nankang line before the end of this year.

  TRTC spokesperson Henry Chen (3?摨?/CHINESE>) said that the corporation hoped to open the new line on schedule regardless of yesterday's mishap.
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