Safety inspectors yesterday refused to approve the operation of the high speed rail between Taipei City and Banciao (板橋), Taipei County, dimming hopes that the link might be operational by the Lunar New Year holiday.
The investigators were tasked by the Bureau of High Speed Rail under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) with assessing the readiness of the rail link.
In their report, the inspectors listed six items that must be addressed before the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) can begin operating between Taipei and Banciao. These included the direction signs in Taipei Rail Station, the provision of fire extinguishers and ticketing facilities.
The company must also submit a plan detailing how it will facilitate the transportation of passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday, ensure that air conditioning units are properly installed on station platforms and demonstrate its ability to help disabled passengers board trains.
Lunar New Year
Should the company manage to correct these deficiencies within two weeks, the high speed rail will be able to operate from Taipei to Tsoying (
Currently, the high speed rail can only operate between Banciao and Tsoying.
Meanwhile, inspectors also said they would require the THSRC to announce the ticket prices for its routes at least seven days before they were offered to the public.
Based on the price plan the company had previously announced, a one-way ticket from Taipei to Banciao should cost NT$40. A one-way ticket from Taipei to Taichung should be set at NT$700, whereas a ticket from Taipei to Kaohsiung should be NT$1,490.
The THSRC secured an Independent Validation and Verification certification for the Taipei to Banciao section from the UK-based Lloyd's Register last year.
The bureau began its inspection of the Taipei to Banciao section -- 5km in length -- last Saturday. The inspection was completed over the weekend.
Inspectors examined almost every aspect of operations, from the functioning of core equipment to the processing of ticketing systems.
Final check
MOTC Vice Minister Ho Nuan-hsuen (
Ho said that inspectors had not demanded that the problems associated with the ticketing system be addressed before the Taipei to Banciao link becomes operational. Instead, they only suggested that the company "continue to improve" the system.
Ho added that the deadline by which the deficiencies be corrected was ultimately up to the company.
Responding to the result of the safety inspection, Ted Chia (賈先德), a spokesman for the THSRC, said the company would work to improve the six items identified by the committee in the "shortest possible period of time."
He did not give a timeframe.
Additional reporting by Jessie Ho
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS