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Driver error caused Dali crash

The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) confirmed yesterday that the train crash near Dali (大里) Train Station, Ilan County, on Friday morning was the result of driver error.

TRA secretary general Chang Ying-huei (張應輝) said yesterday that Huanglin Chung-liang (黃林忠良), the driver conducting trial operations on the two locomotives that hit the commuter train, was found to have driven through two warning signals in a row after the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system on his locomotive had been identified as not working.

Based on the information retrieved from data recorders on the locomotives, Huanglin was operating at 90kph.

To avoid the crash, the driver was supposed to reduce speed to 60kph upon seeing the first warning signal and come to a complete halt upon seeing the second one. Instead, he only began applying the brakes after he saw the second signal. Even though he managed to slow the train to 45kph, his actions failed to stop the two locomotives running in tandem from crashing into the cars of the commuter train.

The administration announced that Huanglin had been given a demerit and would be transferred from his current position. Four supervisors at mechanical engineering divisions in Chidu (七堵) also received demerits because of the accident.

The accident led to the death of five passengers and injured 18, the TRA said yesterday.

The accident also disrupted railway transportation on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holidays. The administration said that 33 Tzuchiang Express services, 17 Chukuang Express services and 23 commuter trains had been canceled. Approximately 40,000 passengers were affected.

Operations of all eastbound trains were resumed by 7:58am yesterday. The administration decided on Friday night that two commuter trains from Taipei to Hualien would be added to the schedule to help transport stranded passengers.

Glitches, nevertheless, continued yesterday. A Tzuchiang Express heading to Taitung was originally scheduled to leave Taipei Main Station at 9:25am yesterday, loaded with 15 cars. Only nine cars arrived at the station and the train was delayed for more than an hour while railway personnel deployed extra cars from Shulin (樹林).
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