The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) has introduced a new car-washing technique, allowing it to keep its carriages cleaner than they have been before.
TRA deputy director-general Chang Ying-huei (張應輝) said yesterday that the administration has been using nano-photocatalyst and nano-anti-fouling coatings -- both developed by Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute -- to help clean train cars since October.
NANO-PHOTOCATALYST
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
The nano photocatalyst is mainly used to disinfect and refresh the air of lavatories onboard, whereas the use of anti-fouling coatings will help prevent the window panes from accumulating dust and water stains.
He said that the administration hired contractor the Taiwan Super Wash Corp (台灣斯巴克環境工程) to hand-wash all of their train cars and apply these substances while cleaning them.
The same company was also hired by the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp to wash their trains.
For their newly purchased EMU 700 model commuter trains and their tilting trains (or Taroko Express), the contractor is also required to wax the body of the train cars.
COST
In a briefing to the press yesterday morning, the administration said that it spends NT$370 million (US$11.2 million) a year to clean train carriages.
The administration added that a survey last year by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed that a majority of passengers considered TRA's trains to be fairly clean, which helped it score 80 out of 100 in this category.
The presentation also showed on average the train needs to be washed twice a day.
It said the train needs to be washed whenever it has been driven for about 300km to 400km.
A single wash generally takes about 30 minutes.
After every 800km, the train cars are washed with more thorough methods, taking 40 minutes to an hour.
In addition, all trains undergo a monthly was that takes three hours.
Trains must be thoroughly washed once a month, which will take about three hours.
The TRA has 1,430 train cars. It also owns about 300 locomotives.
Chang further briefed the press on the purchase of tilting trains.
The administration has bought 48 tilting train cars from a Japanese manufacturer.
IN OPERATION
Twenty-four of them are now in operation.The other 24 cars will be delivered in two batches.
Sixteen of them are scheduled to arrive in Keelung Port on Friday, whereas the rest of them are to arrive next Saturday.
Chang said the administration is planning to have tilting trains operate from Changhua to Taipei and to Hualien.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
RSS