The government agency in charge of monitoring high speed rail services demanded yesterday that staff of the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) be punished for an operational mistake that caused services to be suspended at the Taipei end of the line.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail called on the THSRC to conduct a thorough investigation into the problem that caused the high-speed rail service’s Taipei terminus to be shut down all day on Thursday.
High speed trains were only allowed to operate between Banciao (板橋) and Tsoying (左營) on Thursday, with service from Banciao north to Taipei suspended.
Bureau officials said those found responsible for the mistake — which they called a “detract switch incident” — should be penalized for their negligence.
The incident, which affected 128 train services, occurred early on Thursday morning when a maintenance train car was about to return to Taipei Station, THSRC spokesman Ted Chia (賈先德) said. Maintenance personnel were supposed to obtain authorization from the control center before they drove through the railway switch, Chia said, adding that the train moved on without securing the authorization, leading to the incident.
“It was an accident involving human error as the maintenance personnel did not follow standard operating procedures,” Chia said.
The THSRC resumed normal service yesterday.
In related news, Chia said the THSRC’s northern Taiwan maintenance hub would not be ready until 2011.
Before then, any repair tools, maintenance parts, components and maintenance personnel would have to be brought from central Taiwan when any mechanical mishap occurred.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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