Lawyers representing Yu Chen-chung (尤振仲), conductor of Puyuma Express train No. 6432 that derailed on Oct. 21 in Yilan County, yesterday said that Yu rejected the government’s claim that his negligence caused the train to speed, which in turn caused the deadly incident.
Yu said that there are differences between his account and two reports released by an Executive Yuan investigative task force last month and earlier this month, which said that a series of mechanical malfunctions on the train and poor troubleshooting by the conductor and the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) dispatch control room were to blame for the derailment near Sinma Station (新馬) that killed 18 people and injured 273.
“I do not accept the charge that human negligence caused the train to speed,” a statement issued by Yu through his lawyers read, after the driver was advised by a doctor to avoid further public exposure.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
This month’s report said that Yu because of power problems turned off the automatic train protection (ATP) system that prevents the train from speeding after it left Dasi Train Station (大溪), 44km north of Sinma.
Yu did not deny deactivating the ATP, but said that the report is incorrect in stating that he had been speeding and “left the speed command gear at 140kph” after the train left Luodong Station (羅東), 9km north of Sinma.
The train continued to travel at that speed, nearly double the limit, as it entered a curve near Sinma, the report said.
However, Yu said that he remembers keeping the speed at about 82kph after the train passed Wulaokeng Bridge (武荖坑橋), about 1km north of Sinma.
“Yu said he did not speed at any moment during the journey,” said his lawyer, Chen Hsiang-chuan (陳湘傳), adding that it did not occur to Yu that the train might be speeding because he had not increased the speed himself.
Some time after the train passed Luodong Station, Yu made a final attempt to reset the air compressors, which he and train dispatchers considered to be the cause of the power problems.
He then found that the train was speeding and attempted to stop it, said another of Yu’s lawyers, Alex Yen (閻道至).
The report made no mention of Yu applying the brakes, Yen said, while declining to give the exact sequence of Yu’s efforts to slow down the train or his awareness of it speeding, because they are “part of the communication records not released by the authorities.”
The only thing that is certain is that “Yu had very little time to respond properly after realizing that the train was speeding,” Yen said.
Yen urged the task force to release audio communication records and investigators’ interviews with Yu.
The report includes text communication records, but no post-accident accounts from Yu.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS