Legislators yesterday placed responsibility for Tuesday's accident in Yingke township, Taipei County on the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA), accusing it of failing to properly execute safety measures at railway crossings.
The accident occurred on Tuesday morning when a train crashed into a bus that had been trapped in the middle of a railroad crossing by a stationary truck in front of it and traffic behind it. Hospitals announced that as of early yesterday morning, four people had died and 37 had sustained injuries.
Reconstruction plans were drawn up after a similar accident in July last year, which showed that the narrow crossing and adjacent road were unsafe.
"This is not an isolated case. There have been at least eight similar accidents in the past three years," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷).
TRA Director General Huang Te-chih (
Huang admitted that the sirens sounded only 30 seconds before a train's arrival at a crossing. Peng, however, said his research indicated that the sirens sounded as late as only 16 seconds before a train's arrival. This simply did not leave enough time for anybody stuck on the crossing to hit the emergency button.
TRA Deputy Director General Hsu Ta-wen (
"Trains trigger the alarm approximately 1km before the crossing. Most trains arrive at the crossing about 30 to 40 seconds after the alarm has sounded," he said.
He said that anybody in an emergency situation should press the emergency button as soon as possible, even if the siren has not sounded.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Hung-diau (李鴻釣) also put pressure on the railway administration, pointing out that few people were aware of the emergency button. He stated that merely having emergency buttons was not the same as actually activating the mechanism. He suggested that drivers be informed of the emergency buttons' use before receiving their driver's licenses.
The administration said that they would be intensively promoting the use of emergency buttons in the future, and that it would be on the agenda during the upcoming transportation safety week next month.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communication also announced that it will soon be painting cross hatches on either side of railway tracks to indicate that it is a no-stopping zone. Violators would be fined between NT$6,000 and NT$20,000.
The railway administration further said that it would continue to put pressure on the Taipei City Government to begin widening the crossing and the adjacent road. Huang vowed to finalize construction plans by next month.
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