The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) had a rough beginning to the long holiday weekend. Two accidents on Saturday involving illegal trespassing at railway crossings caused severe damage to an express train and killed one person. About 22,300 passengers were affected by the accidents.
Yesterday, about 6,000 travelers on the nation’s rail system experienced delays because of damage done to a track switch at Keelung Station.
The incident occurred about 1 minute after a Tzuchiang-class express train heading from Keelung to Greater Kaohsiung — train No. 1025 — had left the station.
Photo: CNA
The TRA said the train hit and crushed a track switch.
Passengers of the express train were forced to board a commuter train to Nangang (南港) station, before transferring to another express train.
Meanwhile, the TRA redeployed the No. 1025 express train from Cidu (七堵) station at 2:18pm.
The incident forced the rail operator to temporarily suspend operations on the southbound line between Keelung and Badu (八堵), though the two-way service on the northbound line was unaffected.
As of 5pm, the incident had affected the operation of 20 trains and delayed 5,980 passengers.
The TRA said passengers on the No. 1025 express train were entitled to full refund because they were delayed for more than 45 minutes.
The railway system did not resume service on the southbound line until 4:02pm.
The timing of the incident came as many people were returning home on the final day of the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday.
Meanwhile, heavy traffic affected several northbound sections of the nation’s freeways.
As of 4:30pm, traffic had slowed considerably on the sections including between Hsinchu and Chulin (竹林) interchanges on Freeway No. 3, between Yangmei (楊梅) and Youshih (幼獅) interchanges on Freeway No. 1, as well as between Toucheng (頭城) Interchange and Toucheng Toll Station on Freeway No. 5.
Traffic was moving between 20kph and 40kph at those sections.
The National Freeway Bureau estimated that the traffic volume on all national freeways could reach 2.1 million vehicles yesterday, adding that congestion was expected to continue into the evening.
To ease traffic, the bureau activated meters on feeder roads to regulate vehicles entering the northbound lanes of the freeways. Short-distance travelers were also encouraged to use provincial highways or other alternative routes.
Shoulders on the sections between Dashi (大溪) and Longtan (龍潭) and between Wufong (霧峰) and Jhongtou (中投) on Freeway No. 3 were open for traffic as well.
The bureau estimated before the holiday began that the traffic volume would hit between 1.9 million and 2.3 million vehicles a day. The traffic volume reached 2.35 million on Saturday, before dropping to 2.23 million on Sunday.
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