Pan-blue lawmakers accused the Kaohsiung City Government of risking people's lives for political gain, saying that the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System (KRTS), which began trial runs yesterday, lacked the necessary facilities for handling emergencies.
"There are 13,200 people registered to participate in the trial runs during the next two months, but they are not aware that their lives are in danger due to the lack of safety facilities," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (
KMT Kaohsiung city councilor candidate Lin Kuo-ming (
Lin said the KRTS also hadn't prepared any electric engines that could be used to tow cars during blackouts or earthquakes nor run tests on emergency braking equipment on the trains.
"We urge the Kaohsiung City Government to suspend the trial runs, and not to re-start the runs until all safety facilities have been set up," Lin said.
People First Party Legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
"We call on the Kaohsiung City Government to halt the trial runs at once on the strength of the principle of administrative neutrality. If not, we do not rule out the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the Kaohsiung City Government," Liu said.
In response, the Kaohsiung City Government said the KRTS was safe but welcomed the criticism.
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