Plans to purchase commuter trains and tilting train cars from Japan would not be disrupted by Friday’s massive earthquake, as the manufacturer has promised to deliver the order on time, the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) said yesterday.
Prior to finalizing the deals with Nagoya-based Nippon Sharyo this year, TRA had canceled bids for EMU 800 commuter trains 10 times and for the tilting trains on three occasions, either because of insufficient numbers of bidders or because negotiations broke down.
The TRA said it had contacted the Japanese train car manufacturer and was informed that the company’s manufacturing base is in Toyokawa City near Nagoya, about 600km from the earthquake’s epicenter.
Neither the factory nor its equipment were damaged in the quake, it said.
TRA said Nippon Sharyo must start delivering the first batch of the EMU 800 trains in September next year, adding that delivery of all 296 EMU 800 trains must be completed by July 2015.
Meanwhile, the delivery of 136 tilting train cars must also begin in October next year. All the train cars must arrive in Taiwan by 2014, the TRA said.
In other news, TRA passengers traveling between New Taipei City’s (新北市) Banciao (板橋) and Taipei City now need to pay more after a new pricing scheme took effect yesterday.
Many people were unaware of the price increase because most passengers on the route either use concession tickets issued by the TRA or EasyCards. Both allow train passengers to to travel at discounted prices.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
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