A freight train derailed in the Nangang (
Altogether, 40,000 passengers were affected as 76 trains were canceled and 61 delayed. Normal service was not resumed until 8:20pm last night.
The head of the Reconstruction Bureau of Taiwan Railway, Hsieh Chao-yi (
The accident occured at 4:37am yesterday near Xiangyang Road between the Songshan (
Passengers' nerves soon frayed as trains were canceled or postponed in both directions.
"Why were tickets still being sold from 5am onwards when the incident happened at 4:40am?" one passenger asked.
Another said that considering that the accident happened at 4am, replacement bus services should have been in place by 5am to take them to their destinations.
Yesterday's event is the seventh in a series of mishaps on the national railway since June.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) made a public apology for the incident and said that top officials in the reconstruction bureau of Taiwan Railway would be penalized if railroad safety isn't improved.
Lin emphasized that the incident yesterday was not the Taiwan Railway administration's responsibility, but rather that of the Reconstruction Bureau of Taiwan Railway.
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