The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has filed a lawsuit against Japanese firm Sumitomo Corp and its affiliate in Taiwan seeking NT$611 million (US$20.05 million) in compensation after the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 last year.
The TRA on Thursday said in a statement that the lawsuit was filed with the Taipei District Court against Sumitomo, which in 2011 won a bid to supply the TRA’s fleet of Puyuma tilting trains.
Puyuma Express No. 6432 derailed on Oct. 21 last year in Yilan County while heading to Taitung from New Taipei City, killing 18 passengers and injuring 288.
Although there was mismanagement on the agency’s part, the derailment was caused by design flaws in the train, the Executive Yuan said in a report a little more than a month after the incident.
The flaws included the air compressor system, which was partly responsible for the crash after Sumitomo failed to fix it, despite having been previously notified of the issue, the report said.
Although the train was speeding while negotiating a curve, its air compressor malfunctioned and failed to tilt the train, the report said.
Sumitomo failed to put the TRA’s remote monitoring system online, making it impossible to detect that the automatic train protection system had been deactivated by the driver, it said.
Sung Hung-kang (宋鴻康), who heads the TRA’s Rolling Stock Department, said that despite being the contractor, Sumitomo never tried to help resolve the issues.
The sum that the agency is seeking is mainly to compensate those affected by the crash and also for the loss of the train, Sung said.
The TRA purchased 19 of the Puyuma locomotives from Sumitomo, including 152 cars. They were delivered in batches beginning in October 2012 and went into operation four months later.
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