On Wednesday last week, a Taichung MRT train crashed into a crane boom that fell onto the tracks, leaving one person dead and 10 injured. Many initially thought it was negligence on the part of the construction company that led to the fatal accident, leading Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp to conduct a series of inspections of construction sites along its MRT tracks.
Further investigation has revealed that the operation control center received 16 automatic warning signals about power system abnormalities in the six seconds after the boom fell onto the tracks, but the employees did not identify the problem in time.
The incident shows that the warning system has major flaws.
Taichung Mass Rapid Transit Corp needs to address the issue of signal ambiguity. As there have previously been a fair share of “sudden” power outages or shortages, MRT employees have developed the knee-jerk reaction of attributing the cause to power shortage and overlooking other possibilities. In this case, as the warning signal only said “power anomaly” instead of a more specific description, such as “unknown object on the track,” employees were misled into treating it as another power outage.
The warning system needs to be improved to avoid employees making the wrong decision or delaying notification.
Furthermore, even though various reasons and factors could all contribute to a power anomaly, the MRT employees, in this case, misjudged the situation due to their experiences dealing with power shortages. As most of the previous incidents were power-related and only needed minor troubleshooting, they were lulled into a false sense of security, resulting in a major error of judgement. If the employees had been given more specific or precise warning signals in the first place, they might not have made such a mistake.
Neither did the warning system provide specific anomaly information. While it is equipped with the preliminary function of detecting anomalies on the tracks, it can only show “power anomaly” for all anomalies. Under such circumstances, it would be challenging for employees to make the right judgement given such little information.
One possible improvement would be to link the warning system to the braking system. If the technical level-up cannot be achieved within a short period, the company may have to resort to other supplementary measures so that on-site workers can receive accurate information in time for informed decisionmaking.
There were a series of causes that culminated in the accident, including the construction company’s negligence governing on-site security, a flawed warning system, a faulty power supply system and a lack of on-the-job and scenario-based training. As a result, it is unfair for on-site employees to shoulder all the blame.
In the wake of the incident, the Taichung MRT has proposed three changes to its protocols, together with the introduction of two potential hardware updates.
The first is to enhance and standardize its emergency alert hand signals. The second is to encourage passengers who witness an accident to prevent the doors from closing, which would stop the train from leaving the station. The third would seek to ensure that Taichung MRT employees on trains can readily access their tool bags so it would be easier to stop the train.
As the investigation into the causes of the accident proceeds, we should also remember to take into account other causes that contributed to the accident in the hopes of preventing future tragedies.
Yang Yung-nane is a political science professor at National Cheng Kung University and a member of the board of directors of Transparency International Chinese Taipei.
Translated by Rita Wang
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