The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said it would raise the overall availability of its equipment to improve train punctuality.
The railway operator issued the statement after the Chinese-language United Daily News published an investigative report on the punctuality rate of TRA trains, saying that the high-speed rail system and the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system are more punctual.
The TRA plans to maintain its average train punctuality rate, which is 94 percent, Transportation Department chief Chang Ching-song (張錦松) said, adding that its rate in May was 91.3 percent, up from 87.9 percent in October last year.
“The TRA is not a closed railway system, but is subject to external factors, such as vehicles and pedestrians trespassing on railway crossings. Another critical factor is the overall availability of equipment, including train carriages and signals,” Chang said, referring to factors affecting train punctuality.
Delays are caused by malfunctions — train carriages (18.1 percent), signals (14.9 percent), electric cables (9.4 percent), automatic train protection (ATP) systems (6.5 percent) and railway tracks (0.8 percent) — as well as natural disasters (14.5 percent), derailments (12.5 percent), construction or other reasons requiring reduced speeds (10 percent), deaths and injuries caused by vehicles and pedestrians trespassing on railway crossings (9.4 percent) and objects blocking tracks (3.9 percent), Chang said, citing TRA statistics.
Malfunctions of train carriages, signals, electric cables, ATP systems and railway tracks account for nearly 50 percent of delays, he added.
The TRA is implementing a six-year safe railway plan to improve the train punctuality rate, as well as buying 600 carriages for intercity trains and 520 carriages for local trains, Chang said, adding that the changes would upgrade the TRA’s equipment.
“We will revise the training manuals and augment the technical training for maintenance workers, standardize maintenance procedures and review the purchasing procedures for train components,” he said.
Chang said that as construction can also cause trains to slow down, the TRA would monitor building projects to ensure that there were no construction delays.
The maximum speed allowed for sections of track undergoing construction would be raised occasionally to minimize the effects on train operations, he said.
The TRA installed its train timetable on computers, which allows it to run simulations and store more data, Chang said, adding that the timetable is also linked to the TRA’s new ticketing system, which allows it to analyze demand.
The TRA in 2014 launched an awareness campaign in stations to encourage waiting passengers to yield to alighting passengers, which helped speed up the boarding process, Chang said, adding that 69 train stations have lines drawn on the platforms to show where to line up before boarding.
Slope monitors and alert systems have been installed in high-risk sections and drills are conducted to increase the TRA’s ability to respond to emergency situations, Chang added.
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