The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on Monday officially established the Railway Bureau, authorizing it to supervise the construction and oversight of railways nationwide, as well as generate opportunities to export the nation’s railway expertise and technology to other nations.
The new agency was formed by merging the ministry’s Railway Reconstruction Bureau with its Bureau of High Speed Rail.
The Railway Bureau is based in New Taipei City — in the same building as Banciao Railway Station — and opened for business after a ceremony unveiled a plaque bearing the new agency’s name to the public.
The Railway Reconstruction Bureau operated for 40 years, and the Bureau of High Speed Rail for 20, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said, adding that the Railway Bureau could draw on resources from both agencies in fulfilling its role.
“It is not only a construction agency, but an enforcer of the laws regulating railway operations,” he said. “It oversees railway operations nationwide and develops the railway industry in cooperation with other government agencies. It not only ensures that the railway service is available to the public, but that railway technology is updated, as well as shared with other nations.”
The bureau must not only recruit government employees, but also retain independent experts to review railway projects, investigate major accidents, research and develop technology and certify the safety of railway systems, Hochen said.
The MOTC and the Ministry of Economic Affairs have produced a list of railway system components that the nation should produce locally, such as the pantographs mounted on the roofs of electric trains, railroad switches and railway signaling systems, he said.
“We have asked the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and universities to develop these products,” Hochen said. “Combining product development with research would lower development costs and make mass production possible. By producing these components locally, system maintenance costs would be lowered.”
“We could even export these components to other nations,” Hochen added.
Scheduled to begin operations in 2021, a railway technical research and certification institute is one of the organizations that would be overseen by the Railway Bureau.
The institute would be charged with increasing the proportion of locally made railway components used by the Taiwan Railways Administration and light-rail systems from 42 percent to 70 percent within 10 years.
About 15 percent of the components used in the high-speed rail and MRT systems are made locally, the MOTC said, adding that it hopes the Railway Bureau can increase this figure by 3 percent annually.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS