After spending 11 years and almost NT$60 billion (US$2.1 billion), the Taichung City Government last month finally announced that the Green Line of the Taichung MRT rail system had been completed and trial runs could begin.
Less than a week into the test runs, a coupling broke and the trials were put on hold, causing a political storm as the city government said it would demand compensation from the Taipei City Government, which together with Taichung and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in 2008 signed an agreement designating them executor of the project.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung City Councilor Chang Yao-chung (張耀中) said that although Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Japanese firm responsible for manufacturing the trains, had commissioned US-based Wabtec to make the coupling, it had been supplied by its factory in China.
Chang said the coupling was not strong enough, demanding that the Taichung Transportation Bureau investigate.
He also asked if the US company had breached its contract by using its Chinese factory to make the couplings, but said he doubted it would be possible to demand compensation, and therefore called for the provisional seizure of Kawasaki property.
The Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said that although Kawasaki had ordered the couplings, which were assembled in Japan and sent to Taiwan, Wabtec was responsible for quality control.
China in the past 20 years has made massive investments aimed at developing its railway industry, and it has made ambitious attempts to grab market share from Japan, France and Germany.
However, despite seizing market share with the help of favorable loans and low prices, Chinese-made trains and rail products are of inferior quality.
One example is the 35 train cars that Singapore had to replace in 2016 after they developed cracks. The cars were allegedly secretly recalled as Singapore and Chinese authorities classified the information as confidential.
The same year, the Philippines bought 48 Chinese light rail cars for 3.8 billion pesos (US$79.15 million at the current exchange rate). Due to flaws in the signaling system and other problems, the cars have never been put into operation. The Philippines planned to arrange for third-party tests and considered returning the cars for failing to meet quality requirements.
Also in 2016, Hong Kong’s MTR rail system bought 17 cars from CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles for HK$1.14 billion (US$147 million at the current exchange rate), but because they resemble the older Japanese SP1900 cars, they were ridiculed by train enthusiasts.
These cars started operating on the Ma On Shan Line in 2017 together with Japanese-made cars, but in March last year, they were transferred to the West Rail Line. When leaving Tuen Mun Station toward Mei Foo Station, and less than three hours after they started operating, passengers were reportedly asked to disembark and the train was taken offline.
Some have said that passengers were asked to disembark because the train needed to return to the depot due to a signaling system failure. Hong Kong Internet users commented that Chinese-made cars would break down after half a day, and that this was to be expected.
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) has invested NT$25.3 billion in what has been called the world’s most beautiful and longest local train, the EMU900 from South Korean company Hyundai Rotem. It was criticized for several flaws, such as loose handles that were improperly welded, holes in the door panels and mistakes in the information system.
The TRA later showed that the holes in the door panels were scratches in the black tape used to mark the door panels, and said that handles only needed to be solid and safe and there was no need for them to be welded.
In response to claims that many parts in the train were Chinese-made, the TRA said that most of the equipment was not, adding that they would continue to monitor the situation with independent German third-party certification company TUV Rheinland, while demanding that Hyundai Rotem correct all issues that show up during testing.
It seems that as soon as China is involved in a railway, problems arise. The government has spent huge sums developing the railway transportation system and it must make sure that Chinese-made products do not create problems. Suppliers should not be allowed to “do as they wish” lest the government’s credibility suffers — or worse, the public’s safety is endangered.
John Yu is a civil servant.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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