The Taipei Rapid Transport Co (TRTC) has come under criticism from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) for what she called its sluggish efforts to install safety doors on platforms at Taipei MRT stations, saying that this was the main cause of civilians falling onto the tracks.
Wu said the city council approved a NT$1.7 billion (US$56 million) budget for installing the doors, but the company has only completed nine out of 58 stations since it began the project in 2006.
According to Wu, the top five MRT stations in Taipei and New Taipei City for such accidents are: the Xindian District (新店) Office Station, where 11 people have fallen from the platform, Fuzhong Station, where eight incidents have occurred, with Shipai (石牌), Shuanglian and Qizhang stations tied for third on six each.
The number of such incidents that occur and its failure to prevent them shows the company completely disregards the safety and value of human lives, Wu said.
She said that the company’s NT$160 million project to install 57 pre-warning system units on the MRT tracks was ineffective, adding that since warning system was launched in 2006, there have been 187 cases of people falling from the platforms.
Hu Tsung-li (胡宗禮), deputy director of the firm’s station affairs division, said it is prioritizing installing safety doors at those stations with the highest volume of passenger and carriage traffic, as well as the stations which have a higher incidence of people falling off platforms.
Turning to Wu’s criticism of the pre-warning system, TRTC general manager Tan Gwa-guang (譚國光) said that although the safety doors might not be so effective at preventing suicide attempts, they do prevent people from falling off the platform by accident.
DPP Taipei City Council candidate Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) weighed in on the issue by saying that the firm had installed safety doors at 12 stations this year, but added that this sudden burst of speed was not borne out of concern for commuter safety, but with an eye on the nine-in-one elections in November.
TRTC statistics show that there have been 187 incidents of people falling onto Taipei MRT tracks since 2006, of which 20 have been fatal and 113 resulted in injury.
More than half — 61 percent — of these falls were unintentional, with 90 people, or 48 percent, falling by accident and 24 others, about 13 percent, due to health reasons, the company said.
The remaining 39 percent, or 73 individuals, reportedly jumped off the platform in suicide attempts, it added.
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