More than 10,000 Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) passengers were delayed during yesterday morning’s rush hour because of a broken suspending tripod on the electric wires near Sanchia (三佳) station.
A preliminary investigation showed that the incident may have been caused by human error, as the TRA is switching the railway tracks from the old Sanchia station to the new station. The tripod may have been damaged because of improper installation, the TRA said.
The incident happened at 7:19am and the TRA managed to keep two-way traffic moving using the northbound track by 8:07am. The administration then resumed two-way traffic on both northbound and southbound tracks by 8:30am.
The TRA estimated that the incident had affected the operation of 29 trains and delayed approximately 12,550 passengers. Those who took Tzuchiang Express No. 1003 can get a full refund on their tickets because the train was delayed for more than an hour.
Meanwhile, in other news, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday that starting today, people can purchase tickets for additional cross-strait flights for the Lunar New Year holiday from airlines or through the travel agents.
“We have felt that both the travel agents and consumers have fully understood our pricing policy,” CAA Deputy Director General Lin Shinn-der (林信得) said. “There is no need to restrict ticket sales to airlines alone.”
The announcement marked a drastic change in the CAA’s position after initially saying on Tuesday that tickets for additional cross-strait flights would only be for sale on airline Web sites between Feb.1 and Feb. 28 before the remaining tickets would be made available to travel agents.
The CAA at the time said the measure was a reaction to the possibility that travel agents might mark up cross-strait flight ticket prices.
The measure upset travel agents, who threatened to file a complaint to the Fair Trade Commission against the CAA for meddling with market mechanisms.
Lin yesterday insisted the latest announcement had nothing to do with the threat of a complaint.
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