The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) Labor Union criticized yesterday the decision of the Ministry of Transportation and Communi-cations to appoint Frank Fan (范植谷) as the new TRA director general.
The group argued that Fan, who was charged to terminate the operation of the Taiwan Motor Transport Co -- formerly a state-run corporation -- was not welcome there.
The criticism came during Fan's inauguration ceremony yesterday morning, where he received a symbolic office stamp from former TRA director general Chen Feng-nan (陳峰男) and was sworn into office.
The union's chairman, Chen Han-chin (
Chen Han-chin said the ministry had deprived the TRA of the authority to appoint the right people.
He said even positions as minor as those of division chief or section chief had to be approved by the ministry before the appointment takes effect.
Despite the opposition to the appointment, Chen Han-chin said the union would continue to show strong support for the TRA chief as long as he worked to improve the administration and cared about its employees.
As if expecting the reaction to his nomination, Fan said during the ceremony that he would not damage the TRA.
He said that since he became deputy director-general last year, not once had he been instructed to reorganize the TRA or to turn it into a state-run corporation.
"The most important task at this stage is to restore the core values of TRA -- safety, precision, quality service and innovation," he said, adding he would do everything to bring back the TRA's glory days.
Chen Feng-nan, on the other hand, said he was sorry that an accident had occurred before his official retirement, scheduled for next month.
"The incident makes me feel that I have fallen short of my supervisors' expectations, as well as the public's," he said.
"Because of me, five passengers died, 10 were injured and five TRA employees were punished. I feel sorry for what happened and that is why I handed in my resignation," he said.
He also dismissed talk of the dismantling of the TRA in his farewell speech.
"No one can terminate the TRA, unless it terminated itself," he said.
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