BOHSR chief bets his life amid pan-blue `boycott'

Bureau High Speed Rail (BOHSR) Director Wu Fu-hsiang (吳福祥) bet his life on the safety of the rail system yesterday as he was being questioned by lawmakers.

"I will take any train that people regard as dangerous," Wu told a press conference organized by the People First Party (PFP) caucus in the legislature.

The PFP demanded that the Ministry of Transportation and Communications rescind the approval it gave the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) on Sunday, PFP spokesman Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said.

The party also suggested that the bureau ask the dismissed inspection committee, which had outlined 33 "major" defects in the rail system, to reopen an investigation into the operability of the system.

Both demands, however, were rejected by Wu, which riled the PFP lawmakers.

Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) dashed to the desk in protest and threw a copy of the report Wu provided to lawmakers at him.

Irritated Liu's actions, Wu tried to walk out of the press conference, but he was asked to stay by other PFP lawmakers.

Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers told a separate press conference that the party would cooperate with the Consumers' Foundation in boycotting the high-speed rail and they urged the public to support the boycott.

KMT whip Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) criticized Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) for being irresponsible about the system.

"Su said that whether the rail system would be allowed to operate would be decided by experts, but he ignored entirely the opinions of the inspection committee," Tsai said.

Ministry officials said on Sunday that three Japanese experts who monitored a test run had concluded that THSRC's maintenance and traffic control performance had reached operational standards set by Japan's Shinkansen system.

The KMT lawmakers also questioned the appropriateness of relying on the Japanese trio.

"Given that the three Japanese experts were all Bureau of High Speed Rail consultants, of course they would make a conclusion in favor of the bureau," Tsai said.

In related news, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (王世堅) suggested that the government ask THSRC to offer double compensation to any passengers killed in a rail accident as a condition for the company to begin rail operations.

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