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Railway questioned over Ishihara's train trip

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, right, visits a combined coffee shop and arts and crafts store in Taitung yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara's three-day trip on the premium-class scenic train Star of Formosa turned sour yesterday after some media reports and legislators berated the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) for privileging dignitaries over regular passengers during a temporary shutdown because of Typhoon Nock-Ten.

In the Legislative Yuan yesterday, some legislators asked why Ishihara could ride on the train while some 20,000 commuters were forced to delay or cancel their trips due to the typhoon.

"If the rail and trains are safe for Mr. Ishihara, they are safe for the public, too," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Sen-zong (李顯榮), who took to the podium minutes after reading a newspaper report on passenger complaints.

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) attacked the TRA, arguing that if rail officials were really concerned about travel safety and Taiwan's image, they could have simply changed the schedule or location.

`Different criteria'

In response, Minister of Transport-ation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) outlined two different criteria of transportation security for a single express train and a normal, multi-carriage train.

According to transportation officials, the signal lighting system on the damaged rail line from Taipei to Ilan was not repaired for passenger transport before 5pm on Tuesday.

"With traffic lights broken down and only one-way traffic, the line between Taipei and Ilan was not secure for two-way passenger transportation," Lin said.

"The Star of Formosa could run because we changed the electric engine to a diesel engine and slowed the pace," TRA director-general Hsu Ta-wen (徐達文) said.

Lin said that Ishihara's visit was to promote local tourism and to attract more Japanese visitors to Taiwan.

Japanese visitors are the largest contributors to Taiwan's tourism industry, according to the Bureau of Tourism's annual report. In 2002 alone, nearly 1 million Japanese visitors spent about US$1,132 million in Taiwan.

As the SARS crisis tainted Taiwan's image and sapped the tourism industry last year, the number of Japanese visitors dwindled to some 660,000, with tourism income from them dropping to US$ 667 million.

Post-sars tourism

The government has regarded Ishihara's support to be the centerpiece of the NT$4.8 billion budget to invigorate post-SARS tourism.

Catering to Ishihara's media entourage -- including Fuji Television, TV Tokyo and Kyodo News, tourism officials have strived to put picturesque images of Taiwan on the TV screens of every Japanese home.

On Tuesday, Ishihara and Lin embarked on the Star of Formosa's maiden journey to promote the train tour to the Taroko National Park in Hualien and Chihpen Hot Springs in Taitung.

Inaddition to complimenting Taiwan's local delicacies and clean facilities, Ishihara also expressed disappointment over the "politicization" of his visit.

"This is my fifth trip to Taiwan. I am here to see the beauty of Taiwan and visit some old friends. I don't want the media to ask too many questions," Ishihara told accompanying reporters.

Ishihara, a high-profile and outspoken nationalist, was re-elected in a landslide victory last year.

He attended Chen Shui-bian's inauguration ceremony in May. He is widely seen as a future successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
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