New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday asked Premier William Lai (賴清德) to remove Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) from his post, after Wu was stumped by some elementary questions regarding the Puyuma Express train derailment on Oct. 21.
Wu on Monday also passed on erroneous information regarding the Puyuma Express’ automatic train protection (ATP) device to the media.
During a question-and-answer session with Lai and Wu at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Huang asked Wu to clarify remarks he made on Monday at a news conference that it would be time-consuming to send the ATP device back to Japan to be checked and that the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) would instead ask the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology to improve on the exisiting ATP.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Wu initially told Huang that the ministry would investigate whether the derailed train had been equipped with an ATP and if it had, whether the device was functioning properly.
Citing the TRA’s latest inspections, which were published on Monday, Huang said that the Puyuma Express train was equipped with an ATP and it was working normally.
Asked by Huang which country manufactured the ATPs on all trains including the Puyuma Express, Wu said it was Japan.
However, Huang said that the ATP installed on the Puyuma Express, as well as those on other trains, were made by Canadian firm Bombardier Inc and installed in 2007.
Huang then asked Wu whether it was the ATP, the remote surveillance system or the connection between the two that was problematic and might have led to the derailment.
He asked why the TRA on Monday told a news conference that its own tests had confirmed that the ATP on the Puyuma Express can connect to the surveillance system, but continued to disconnect during testing.
The TRA needed to put the quality of connections between the ATP and the surveillance system through further testing to see if the signal is stable, Wu said.
Noting that all trains in the nation are connected to the same remote surveillance system, Huang said that if it is unsafe to link Puyuma Express trains to the system, it would also be pointless to link other trains.
Huang said the maintenance of the surveillance system was contracted to Mercuries Data Systems — a Taiwanese company — and asked Wu whether he knew the reason why limited tendering rather than open bidding had been used in allocating the contract, to which Wu replied that the process would be investigated.
Visibly angered by Wu’s response, Huang told Lai: “Premier, I know you back this minister, but I will offer you a sincere piece of advice: Just fire him.”
“The minister’s understanding of the accident after more than a week has proved to be poorer than a legislator who only has the power of investigation,” Huang said.
Citing a 2012 report on the TRA’s “mid-term and long-term operating strategy,” which was compiled by Sinotech Engineering Consultants Ltd, Huang said the ATPs were the most problematic component in the TRA’s operations, as on average there are 133 malfunctions per month.
Asked by Huang what he thought of the rate of malfunction, Lai answered: “Very high.”
Asked whether improvements needed to be made, Lai said: “It is imperative to improve the ATPs to ensure safety.”
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