Tsai returns to voice safety fears

KMT lawmaker Alex Tsai (蔡正元) yesterday held his second press conference within a week to question the safety of the north-south high-speed railway.

Tsai again displayed photos showing cracks on pillars supporting the railway's elevated track in the railway's section in Tainan.

Tsai claimed the photos were taken on Thursday. "The Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) has lied when it said [on Monday] it has improved the pillar cracks," Tsai said.

Tsai also accused Nita Ing (殷琪), chairwoman of THSRC, of asking former finance minister Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) to fix the Income Tax Law (所得稅法) to benefit the corporation's shareholders.

Tsai also alleged that George Liu (劉國治), president of THSRC, has been illegally lobbying the government to allow one of the corporation's Japanese contractors to use inferior materials for the railway's cable pipes.

Edward Lin (林天送), THSRC's spokesman, said yesterday Tsai's accusations against Ing and Liu are slanderous.

THSRC issued a statement in response saying Tsai has violated Articles 309 and 310 of the Criminal Code by publicly insulting and defaming other people.

"THSRC has asked Tsai to apologize publicly to the corporation," the statement said.

If Tsai fails to respond to the request, THSRC will seek compensation from Tsai and those involved in the allegation through judicial procedures, the statement said.

Lin, however, said it is THSRC's responsibility to calm the public's concerns about the railway's safety.

Lin said THSRC is responsible for the railway's construction and operation.

"If THSRC allows its contractors to use inferior materials, the corporation will have to suffer the consequences," Lin said.

Responding to Tsai's photos showing the railway's flawed pillars, Lin said it is unnecessary to demolish all flawed constructions.

"The pillars are like our teeth. When we have tooth problems, we don't always extract the whole tooth. We just fix the specific problems," Lin said.

Last Saturday, Tsai held a press conference to display a number of photos showing pillar cracks in the railway's C280, C291 and C295 sections in Tainan and Kaohsiung areas.

This Monday, THSRC held a press conference to respond to Tsai's allegation about the railway's safety.

The corporation distributed to reporters photocopies of portions of a non-conformance report that stated all defects in C280, C291 and C295 sections have been corrected or are in the process of being fixed.

Lin noted yesterday, "All THSRC's contractors have their own independent site engineers to supervise construction and oversee safety."

Apart from THSRC's independent site engineers, THSRC also hired the International Railway Engineering Group (IREG) to supervise the overall performances of its contractors, Lin said.

IREG consists of four companies -- DE-Consult, Electrowatt Engineering AG, Mott MacDonald Ltd and SYSTRA.

"The railway's construction has to pass various quality assurance plans that are carried out with strict scientific examinations," THSRC's statement said yesterday.

"Tsai's unprofessional and intentional allegations cannot smear THSRC's quality assurance plans," the statement said.

In THSRC's Monday press conference, the corporation revealed documents from Tsai's correspondence with the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail (BOTHSR) since last December.

The documents showed Tsai has been very interested in the design of the railway's cable troughs.