Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) officials said yesterday that the agency has asked Taiwan Rolling Stock Co (TRSC), the manufacturer of EMU700 commuter trains, to immediately address technical problems found in some of its train carriages, including some already in service.
The light-emitting-diode (LED) panel in each car, for example, occasionally displays incorrect information, while the onboard broadcasting system sometimes fails to inform the passengers of stations. Some carriage doors have also malfunctioned.
For the train cars that are in use, the TRA has requested that the TRSC address the problems by a specified time. For carriages undergoing testing, the contract requires the TRA to halt test runs if any one problem appears five days in a row. The TRA will not allow the company to resume test runs until the problems are addressed, it said.
As of yesterday, the TRSC had delivered 88 carriages, the TRA said. The company was unable to deliver another 32 carriages this month as planned, and it faces penalties totaling NT$4 million (US$121,200).
The TRA has just completed testing of another set of trains. Six more sets are now being tested.
The TRA said the TRSC has been slow to address problems, which has delayed the testing schedule. On average, it has had to postpone the scheduled launch of each set of carriages by about six weeks, it said.
The TRA said its contract with TRSC entitled it to seek compensation, but what worries it most is the possible lack of replacements if the two sets of EMU700 trains break down.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
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