The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday said that 228 apprentices and 10 driving assistants have been dispatched to assist drivers of express train services to promote passenger safety.
The initiative is part of reforms at the TRA that Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) announced on Monday after a Puyuma Express train derailment on Oct. 21 that killed 18 passengers and injured 215.
Preliminary findings by an Executive Yuan investigative team showed that the train driver, surnamed You (尤), was communicating with a train dispatcher and an inspector about a technical problem he was having for 43 minutes.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Railways Administration
The accident shows the risk of having only one driver on board, prompting the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ (MOTC) decision to have two drivers operating each train.
MOTC Deputy Minister Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) yesterday morning visited the TRA to see how it was implementing the new measure.
The TRA has 18 Puyuma Express and eight Taroko Express train services.
To implement the two-driver policy, the apprentice drivers and driving assistants yesterday started assisting the drivers of the two express train services, the TRA said.
“We will see if we need to continue implementing the two-driver policy after we have ascertained that the ATPs [automatic train protection] can function reliably,” Chi said.
The TRA has six types of trains: diesel-electric locomotives, electric locomotives, diesel hydraulic locomotives, push-pull electric locomotives, steam locomotives and electric multiple units.
It takes about 23 months to train a driver to operate one type of train, and another month of training to be able to operate a different type of train, the TRA said.
The TRA Train Drivers’ Association said that it used to be a TRA policy to have two drivers on board.
“However, as the agency began acquiring new trains and safety equipment, it began experimenting with having only one driver operate the train,” the association said.
The group said it has been urging the TRA to return to a two-driver policy for all trains after the collision at Dali Train Station (大里) in Yilan County in 2007, but the agency has rejected its proposal.
Meanwhile, the Society of Railway and National Planning said that the task force entrusted to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the TRA should take an in-depth look at the issues facing the agency.
“We absolutely understand the importance and necessity of having such a task force, but the task force should give the TRA a vision as well as strategies to achieve them before talking about reforms. It should also review how transport policies in the past have affected the TRA’s operations,” the society said.
Members of the task force should feel free to talk about what they think the problem is without fear of being punished, and all stakeholders must strive to reach a consensus on measures that the task force proposes to improve the agency, the society said.
Finally, the task force must list specific steps and timeline that the TRA must follow, which should help the agency reorganize its personnel structure, recruit workers and make budget plans, it said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary