A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilor yesterday accused the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) of ignoring the safety of passengers by failing to install warning lights on the platforms of above-ground stations on the MRT Red Line.
Taipei City’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) installed warning lights on the platforms at MRT stations on medium-capacity lines and some high-capacity stations to remind passengers of arriving trains and to prevent passengers from falling onto the rail.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) lashed out at the TRTC yesterday for failing to install the lights at 16 Red Line MRT stations north of Yuanshan Station and called on the company to remedy the situation as soon as possible.
“The problem has existed for a long time, but the TRTC has ignored complaints and refused to improve the situation,” Chen said.
Chen said she had received many complaints, especially from disabled residents, about the lack of warning lights at those stations.
Passengers could accidentally fall onto the rails, especially during rush hour, she said.
“The city government should really take the matter seriously, especially as it is hosting the Deaflympics,” she said.
“It should use this time to install the warning lights and make the MRT safer for athletes and foreign guests,” Chen said.
TRTC vice-president and spokesman Chao Hsiung-fei (趙雄飛) said the company would have to communicate with the DORTS, the original builder of the MRT stations, to determine whether or not warning lights were necessary at those stations.
Chao said message boards at the stations include information about when trains are due to arrive so that passengers know about approaching trains even without the warning lights, declining to make any promises about installing warning lights at those stations.
The DORTS said that the company did not initially install warning lights at those 16 stations because the stations were above-ground, allowing passengers a clear view of trains as they approach.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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