Railway death hits commuters

Passengers at Taipei Railway Station yesterday encounter heavy delays after traffic ground to a halt when a man was hit and killed by a train traveling between Taipei and Songshan. PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

More than 40 Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) northbound trains were delayed for more than an hour yesterday morning, as one of its commuter trains ran over a man lying on the railway tracks along the Taipei to Songshan route.

The TRA then shut down the northbound line of the section completely and used the southbound line to continue two-way operations. Both lines resumed normal operations at 10:34am.

According to a TRA statement, commuter train No. 2116 was traveling from Taipei Railway Station to Songshan Station at 7:14am when the driver saw a man lying on the railway tracks inside a tunnel. But it was too late to halt the train and avoid hitting the man.

The dead man was later identified as 39-year-old Liu Chang-chi (劉昌奇).

Passengers were asked to get off the train and walk along the railway tracks back to the Taipei Railway Station.

The railway administration first said that the man might have committed suicide by lying on the railway tracks, but it later changed its statement as investigators found that Liu was in possession of a train ticket from Taipei to Lotong (羅東), Ilan County.

The TRA then said the man might have fallen from a Tzuchiang Express train passing through the section earlier.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident.

Reporting on the delays caused by the rush-hour incident, the railway administration said that 44 trains were affected, resulting in a delay of 2,873 minutes.

Two commuter trains were delayed for more than two hours, and 10 express trains were forced to delay their departure for about an hour.

By law, the administration is obligated to give full refunds to passengers whose trains are delayed for more than an hour.

As of press time, the TRA administration had refunded 492 tickets, costing the administration NT$135,558 (US$4,236).

Chen Han-chin (陳漢卿), chairman of the Taiwan Railway Administration Workers Union, attributed the delay in part to the fact that railway maintenance technicians could only begin cleaning up the mess after prosecutors showed up at the crime scene and gave the greenlight to resume operations.

Investigators reportedly appeared at the scene at 8:35am, whereas the prosecutors did not show up until 9:17am.

Previously, workers were allowed to clear the tracks after the railway police had delineated a sketch of the scene of an accident.

"The procedure wastes too much time," Chen said.

"Not only did it affect passengers' interest, but station workers were also blamed for the delay," Chen said.