A soon-to-be-established National Transportation Safety Council would determine whether to reopen an investigation into the derailment of a Puyuma Express train in Yilan County on Oct. 21 last year, which killed 18 people and injured 298.
The Aviation Safety Council (ASC) investigates the causes of aviation accidents. On Aug. 1, the council is to be renamed the National Transportation Safety Council, which would investigate aviation as well as major railway and highway accidents.
An ad hoc group formed by the Executive Yuan has investigated the causes of the derailment, but the families of the victims said they were not convinced by its conclusions.
They have been asking the government to quickly establish a national transportation safety council that would be in charge of reopening the investigation.
ASC Chairman Yang Hung-chi (楊宏智), who has confirmed that he would be the new council’s first chairman, said that the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office has agreed to hand over evidence related to the derailment to the new council once it is established.
The evidence would include recorded conversations between the train driver and the operation control center, and video footage recorded by a dashboard camera, he said, adding that the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) would also be asked to provide information.
The new council within the first week of its establishment would discuss whether it is necessary to reopen the investigation, Yang said, adding that it might need more time to gather information about the case.
A final decision would be made before the end of this year, he said.
Commenting on the Executive Yuan’s investigation, Yang said that investigators did not cross-examine all the evidence.
Investigators did not gather enough measurement data and the probe’s results were questionable, as investigators used a lot of hypotheses to simulate the speed at which the train was traveling when it derailed, he said.
The new council would have a specific division investigating railway accidents, whose investigators would focus on issues that were not touched on in the Executive Yuan’s probe, Yang added.
These include why the driver operated above the speed limit and whether it is common for Puyuma Express drivers to do so, he said.
Investigators would also look into how the TRA trains its drivers to handle problems with Puyuma Express trains, particularly with regard to unstable operating speeds, he said.
The TRA’s procedures for stopping trains for inspections, changing trains and approving operations would be scrutinized, Yang said, adding that the information is needed to present a convincing investigation result to the public.
All the parties involved in the derailment, including the manufacturers of the train and the automatic train protection system as well as the company that conducted independent verification and validation for the system, should assign representatives to participate in the investigation, he said.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
RSS