The Taiwan Railway Administra-tion (TRA) announced yesterday that it would appoint 48-year-old Shangguan Huei-jhu (上官慧珠), currently the director of general affairs at the Kaohsiung Train Station, as station master for the newly built New Tsoying (新左營) Station.
Shangguan will be the first female station master for the state-run administration since its founding 119 years ago. She is scheduled to start serving in her new capacity in October.
Shangguan was informed that she would be awarded her position last week. She said that she had not expected to be appointed as station master so quickly.
"I was surprised about the new job arrangement and was totally unprepared for it," she told the Taipei Times. "I feel it is going to be quite a challenging task."
She added that all she knew at this point was that the new station is twice the size of Kaohsiung Station and that she would have to ask for a briefing for more information.
The New Tsoying Station is situated adjacent to a station built by the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. Once it begins operating, the station will accommodate passengers from both systems.
Chang Ying-huei (
"She [Shangguan] has a thorough working experience within the administration, which is rare," Chang said.
Born and raised in Chiayi County, Shangguan moved to Kaohsiung when she married in 1983. She passed the TRA personnel examination in 1984 and has since held different positions at the Kaohsiung Train Station, working as a telegram operator, a train guard and a deputy station master.
As a woman working in the TRA's male-dominated working environment, Chang said that it is not an easy field to break into because there have traditionally not been many opportunities available for women.
As an example, she noted that the administration sometimes has job openings at smaller stations where station masters sometimes work night shifts, but female employees are often passed over as potential candidates because of safety concerns.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner