A proposal by Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, the operator of the nation’s high-speed rail, to increase the maximum number of train trips that can be made on special high-load days to 210 a day passed an environmental impact -assessment yesterday.
The Environmental Protection Administration gathered environmental impact assessment specialists to discuss the impact of increasing the number of runs on high-load days, such as during Lunar New Year or on election day.
A previous assessment had set a limit of 175 runs a day.
In addition to evaluating noise pollution and carbon emissions, the specialists assessed land subsidence along the high-speed rail line, especially in Yunlin and Changhua counties.
Taiwan High Speed Rail said subsidence resulted from structural aspects that had already been evaluated before construction, adding that no irregular or unexpected subsidence had been observed over the past four years.
The company agreed to continue monitoring subsidence if the number of trains are increased.
The specialists told the panel they all agreed that adding to the number of trains would have a positive impact by reducing carbon emissions and that the immediate threat of land subsidence remained unproven and required further monitoring.
However, the specialists asked the company to provide clear and specific measures on how it intends to monitor the environmental impact if the numbers of train trips is increased to more than 175 per day.
The specialists asked the operator to provide a clear definition of “high-load days” to better regulate when adding train trips might be permitted.
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