The government should follow the examples of Japan and South Korea and form a committee to investigate railway and aviation accidents, a transportation official said yesterday.
Bureau of High Speed Rail Director-General Pang Jia-hua (
Pang made the remarks after the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission presented a draft of an investigative act for aviation and railway accidents.
The commission proposed that an aviation and railway accidents investigative committee be established under the administration of the Aviation Safety Council.
The council is primarily responsible for investigating aviation accidents which result in major casualties.
Though the Railway Law (鐵路法) regulates railway operations, the commission said that the law might not be adequate in dealing with safety issues arising from the high speed rail, which operates at speeds up to 300kph.
As a result, the council proposed that the commission be made responsible for the investigation of high speed rail accidents.
In related news, the Bureau of High Speed Rail approved a Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) proposal to offer unreserved seats to passengers at a 7 percent discount.
Pang said the proposal also did away with the requirement for passengers to arrive at the platforms at least two minutes before boarding.
The bureau asked the THSRC to inform the public about the discounted tickets for at least a week before introducing them, Pang said.
Posters would be displayed on the platforms to inform passengers which cars had been designated for unreserved seats, he said.
Meanwhile, train commuters traveling between Keelung and Jhongli (中壢) will be able to use EasyCards in Taiwan Railway Administration stations from March, Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Ho Nuan-hsuen (何煖軒) said.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
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TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
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