Two MRT trains collided yesterday inside the Wenshan-Neihu Line’s Neihu Depot, sparking renewed complaints from Taipei City councilors about the line’s system malfunctions and operational errors.
The collision occurred at 8:33am as train No. 107 was entering the depot for maintenance. Train No. 101 was on the rail waiting for maintenance and was hit from behind.
The waiting train’s windshields and malfunction-detection poles were broken, but no one was hurt, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHUANG RUEI-HSIUNG’S OFFICE
Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光), the press contact for the MRT Wenhu Line, said the TRTC and Bombardier Inc, which built part of the system, were looking into the cause of the accident.
Members of the Taipei City Council’s MRT Wenhu Line investigation team, including Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors Chou Po-ya (周柏雅), Liu Yao-ren (劉耀仁), Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫), inspected the depot after the accident, and criticized the TRTC.
“It is unbelievable that two trains that were supposed to be on separate rails could collide and cause such a serious accident,” Chou said.
Liu said whether the accident was the result of a malfunction or human error, the accident was not acceptable as the Wenhu line has already been operating for five months.
Tan said one employee was on train No. 101 at the time of the accident, while train No. 107 was in auto mode.
The TRTC suspected that the collision occurred because the spots designated to park the trains were too close, Tan said, but “we are still checking the cause.”
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