The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday that it would replace all outdated batteries used in the Muzha Line's uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system this week.
The announcement came in the wake of a report yesterday by Apple Daily saying that 588, or about two-thirds, of the batteries used in the Muzha Line's UPS system had passed their expiry date years ago, leading to the two explosions at the Taipei Zoo MRT Station this month.
TRTC vice president Chang Huan-kwang (
The expired batteries had been in use for 10 years, and should have been replaced when they had been in use for eight years, he said.
"The replacement should be completed this week," he added.
Chang said that the explosions on Aug. 4 and Aug. 15 were not caused by expired batteries, but admitted that a preliminary investigation showed that the malfunctioning batteries had cracks on them even before the explosions.
Chen Chiang (陳強), chief of TRTC's medium-capacity transport division, said that it was looking into what caused the cracks.
"There might have already been problems when the batteries were purchased," Chen said. "Problems could also have occurred when the batteries were being recharged. Or, there might have been something wrong with the circuits in the machine room."
The UPS system, which provides backup power, switches on automatically in the event of a power failure. It provides power to the illuminating facilities and signals until the emergency generators are activated. The batteries need to be charged all the time, and must be able to endure high temperatures.
According to the Apple Daily report, the Muzha Line's UPS system uses 896 batteries made by several different firms.
The two battery explosions did not cause any injury.
The TRTC has also put out notices advising its employees to observe caution when entering machine rooms where batteries are placed.
The incident has once again exposed safety problems in the operation of Taipei's rapid transit system. In May 2004, maintenance crews accidentally triggered the fire alarm system while testing the emergency power generators. The gas emitted from the fire alarm system affected residents living around an MRT station. The case is still under investigation.
Another accident occurred after the celebrations on New Year's Eve last year, when crowds swarmed into the MRT's Taipei Main Station. Several people tripped and fell on the escalators, with one woman getting scalped as her hair got entangled in the escalator.
The company was fined NT$400,000 for failure to manage the crowd.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS