President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen added that he hopes the government can assist the railway to accomplish its reforms while taking care of its passengers' best interests.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
To show his concern about the railway transportation during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chen led a group of government officials and reporters on a railway tour from Taipei to Hsinchu City yesterday morning.
He praised those railway workers who remained on duty yesterday, despite the TRA labor union's appeal for them to join a strike to show their opposition to the government's plan to turn the railway administration into a government-owned corporation.
"The performance of the TRA today will dissolve those people's worries," Chen said during the train tour.
"And I will ask the Cabinet to enhance communications with railway workers to cooperatively realize the reforms of the Taiwan Railway Administration," he said.
Chen urged all railway workers to value their reputation, which he said is built on the foundation of its contributions to passenger service over the past century.
"I fully encourage the TRA labor union to call on its assembly after performing their duties ... I represent the public in expressing our gratitude to them," Chen said.
"However, I still have to ask all TRA workers to face up to the company's problems, which include its heavy debts and its ineffective organization," Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday reiterated the government's determination to continue the reforms, including incorporating the TRA, to get the ailing railway system out of the red.
The DPP's legislative caucus whip, Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), said yesterday the TRA is in serious financial trouble: Its accumulated debts, including its pension liabilities, amount to NT$180 billion and the daily personnel cost totaled NT$50 million.
This is a situation that needs immediate reforms to stop the railway system from bleeding money, Chen Chi-mai said.
"The TRA is currently NT$80 billion in debt. Its accumulated debts exceed NT$180 billion and the deficit is growing by NT$10 billion each year," Chen Chi-mai said.
"Ninety percent of the TRA's total deficit is a result of the personnel costs. Everyday that the railway is open for business, it has to spend NT$50 million on personnel. We can no longer wait to change this situation," Chen Chi-mai said.
Chen Chi-mai stressed that reforming to the debt-ridden TRA doesn't necessarily mean that the the institution will be privatized .
"What we want is to incorporate the TRA and bring it out of the red," Chen Chi-mai said.
Citing Canadian National Railway in Canada and Amtrak in the US as examples, Chen Chi-mai said that the railway systems in those two countries both suffered from serious deficits before being incorporated or privatized.
Chen Chi-mai said that Canadian National Railway Co, which was privatized in 1995, has successfully turned loss into profit and the personnel cost has been reduced from 95 percent to 72 percent of expenditures -- bringing millions of dollars in profits to the government each year.
In Taiwan, Chen Chi-mai said, the China Shipbuilding Corp and Taiwan Motor Transport Co are good examples of companies that have turned loss into gain after being incorporated or privatized.
"The government will waste no time in introducing reform measures to stop the TRA from losing money, the legislator said.
The DPP will also put the Railway Law bill and the Statute Governing the TRA Organization at the top of the legislative agenda and propose a NT$100 billion for the TRA's transformation project," Chen Chi-mai said.
DPP Deputy Secretary General Lee Ying-yuan (
Lee said that the government will abide by previous agreements with the union leadership to ensure that the rights and interests of the railway workers are protected and to see that the railway's debt problems will be resolved.
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