Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday the Maokong Gondola would be closed until civil engineers could confirm its safety after mud slides brought by Super Typhoon Jangmi eroded the ground beneath a support pillar.
The cable car was closed at 3pm yesterday and will not open for at least a month while the evaluation is conducted by a team that will be selected by the city government, Hau told a press conference.
The decision was an about-face from the city government’s announcement on Monday that the cable car would continue to operate in spite of protests from local residents and city councilors.
PHOTO: CNA
Hau yesterday said the system was safe, but that the evaluation would be conducted to ease public anxiety.
“The city government’s departments had concluded that the gondola was safe, but apparently our evaluation result did not resolve public concerns. In order to ease the worries of residents, we decided to suspend the gondola’s operations,” he said.
Hau said the city government would invite civil engineers to conduct a thorough inspection on the stability of the system. Service will not resume until the results are in.
When asked whether any city officials would resign over the incident, Hau declined to respond, but said the city government had closed the cable car because it “feels the public’s pain.”
Taipei City councilors across party lines questioned Hau’s guarantee that the gondola was safe, saying the torrential rains had left a 2.5m-deep hole a few meters from a support pillar on a cliff.
Jangmi caused mud slides in Muzha (木柵) on Monday, one of which occurred directly under the gondola’s Corner 2 station — one of two service stations where passengers do not board. Part of a cliff bearing two support pillars crumbled in the storm.
Standing inside the hole beneath the pillar during an inspection yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilors Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chou Bo-ya (周柏雅) scooped up loose soil and trash such as plastic bags, saying it was ridiculous to call the pillar stable.
“How can this foundation be called stable and solid when rocks keep falling from the cliff? The city government is lying,” Chuang said.
Taipei City Secretariat Director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安) said the system was “absolutely safe.”
The pillars are set into igneous rock beneath the surface, so the stability of the pillars is not affected if top soil erodes, Yang said.
In addition, more than 340 sensors placed in the gondola system’s support pillars ensure that the system will shut down automatically if any of the pillars tilt, he said.
“We have told the mayor that the system is fine and we continue to believe that the system is fine. Operations were halted to ease public concern,” he said.
Yang said suspending operations would cost the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) more than NT$45 million (US$1.4 million) for a month.
TRTC, the operator of the gondola, will refund any tickets purchased in advance.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
PAWSITIVE IMPACT: A shop owner said that while he adopted cats to take care of rodents, they have also attracted younger visitors who also buy his dried goods In Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕), cats lounging in shops along Dihua Street do more than nap amid the scent of dried seafood. Many have become beloved fixtures who double as photography models, attracting visitors and helping boost sales in one of the capital’s most historic quarters. A recent photo contest featuring more than a dozen shop cats drew more than 2,200 submissions, turning everyday cat-spotting into a friendly competition that attracted amateur and professional photographers. “It’s rare to see cats standing, so when it suddenly did, it felt like a lucky cat,” said Sabrina Hsu (徐淳蔚), who won the NT$10,000 top prize in
RSS