Monday's rush-hour incident on the Panchiao-Nankang line (板南線) was caused by mechanical failure, officials from the Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) said yesterday.
The breakdown, which saw a smoking MRT train wedged in the tracks at Taipei City Hall Station, forced an estimated 100,000 commuters to seek alternatives routes home, bringing chaos to Taipei's transport network.
"According to our preliminary investigation, the accident was caused by a broken torsion-bar bolt underneath one of the passenger cars," Yen Pang-chieh (顏邦傑), vice president of TRTC said. "That forced the gear device loose and oil to leak. Because of the choking smoke, TRTC officials ordered passengers to evacuate the train and the driver attempted to drive the car back to Nankang for inspection.
"However, the driver continued to drive the train at 25kph and the gear device got stuck in the rails at Taipei City Hall Station," Yen said.
The MRT breakdown forced TRTC to close one track of the Panchiao-Nankang line for eight hours.
The MRT system resumed normal operations at 5pm yesterday morning.
"We discovered that the torsion-bar bolts broke easily because the torsion was set a little too high." Yen said. "We will ask the German manufacturers, Siemens, to explain and sort out this problem."
According to the Chen Wen-fu (陳文福), director of TRTC's public relations office, 216 of the MRT's passenger cars were made by Siemens.
"Actually those cars are due to be overhauled soon, as we have used them since 1998," Chen said.
Taipei Mayor May Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday asked TRTC to investigate the accident and promised to punish anyone found at fault.
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