A commuter train bound for Hsinchu was forced to stop at Fugang Railway Station in Taoyuan yesterday morning after the driver reported suffering symptoms of high blood pressure, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said.
The 41-year-old driver surnamed Peng (彭) appeared normal when he showed up for work, but was sent to a hospital after suffering from palpitations and weakness.
One of the passengers on the train posted a message on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) — the nation’s largest academic online bulletin board — saying the first indication that something might be wrong was the train’s LED panel continued to read Jhungli Station after the train had passed the station.
Once the train had stopped at Fugang Station, passengers were informed through the train’s broadcast system that the driver was unwell and they should disembark, the posting said.
Meanwhile, officials said talks will be held today with the National Train Drivers’ Association in a bid to prevent a drivers’ protest from disrupting travel during the Lunar New Year holiday.
More than 132 trains were delayed on Saturday as drivers slowed trains when moving through railway crossings to protest what the association said was the TRA’s handling of a shortage of drivers and badly designed railway crossings.
However, some of the delays were also due to a four-hour-long inspection of rail lines following the magnitude 6.1 earthquake early on Saturday morning that was centered about 25km east of Taitung.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said the drivers’ slowdown on Saturday had affected about 60,000 passengers and that he had told Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) to ask the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the TRA to quickly reach a consensus with the drivers’ association.
The drivers’ concerns about the safety of the railway crossings and the personnel shortages should be addressed, Ma said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Jian-yu (陳建宇) said his Deputy Minister Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) would discuss relevant issues at the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration.
“Both the ministry and the association care about the quality and safety of the train service, but we do not want an internal issue with the TRA to affect the transportation of homebound passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday,” Chen said.
TRA Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said his agency’s proposal to add 1,318 employees within five years was approved by the ministry. He said that 132 new hires needed to be recruited immediately, and that about one-third of the openings were for train drivers.
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