Transport officials said yesterday that the high-speed railway was safe even though a 6km section which cuts through Yunlin County sits on land that has subsided considerably in recent years.
The site where the elevated railway crosses Provincial Expressway No. 78 in the county has subsided by 55cm over the past seven years, according to data compiled by Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC), which operates the bullet train.
DIFFERENTIAL
Officials at the Bureau of Taiwan High Speed Rail under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, however, said that the “differential settlement” — the rate of uneven settling — between adjacent piers of the railway viaduct in Yunlin remains within tolerable levels, adding that the railway’s structure and operation remained sound.
The officials said the THSRC has closely monitored the subsidence of the Yunlin section’s piers and foundations since 2004.
The differential settlement for the section crossing over Provincial Expressway No. 78 stands at 1.08/1,500 at present, far lower than the maximum permissible level of 6/1,500, the officials said.
SLOWING
They said the pace of subsidence along the Yunlin section had slowed from nearly 10cm per year in the past to 6.8cm last year because a number of deep wells were closed in the area, reducing groundwater seepage.
WELLS
Though pleased by the slower pace of subsidence, the bureau said it hoped the central and local governments would collaborate to close even more wells, including those used for aquaculture, to stop further subsidence in Yunlin County, which is known for its agriculture and aquaculture.
Echoing the bureau’s safety assurances, THSRC spokesman Ted Chia (賈先德) said the high-speed railway was safe and structurally sound.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS