The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board yesterday said that it did not commit to a deadline by which it would conclude the investigation of last year’s derailment of a Puyuma Express train in Yilan County, adding that it is still examining all the evidence.
Eighteen people were killed and 215 injured in the accident on Oct. 21.
The Legislative Yuan passed a bill in April to establish a new government agency in charge of investigating the causes of major public transport accidents, including those in railway, highway, aviation and shipping services.
The board was officially established on Aug.1. One of the urgent tasks facing it is determining whether to restart the investigation into the accident, as the victims’ family members were dissatisfied with the results of the administrative investigation conducted by the Executive Yuan.
In its first briefing to the media, the board said that it is examining all the evidence it received from the Railway Bureau and the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office.
It held its first meeting to discuss the evidence on Monday, it said, adding that the next meeting would be on Monday next week.
OVERLOOKED ISSUES
The board said it identified six areas that were overlooked or poorly examined during the Executive Yuan’s investigation.
They include the thermal dissipation performance of the air pumps and how that would affect the train’s braking and power systems and how the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) maintains trains with unstable power systems.
The board said it would try to retrieve additional data from the damaged train control and management system (TCMS) and find out whether the automatic train protection system records data after it is turned off.
The key evidence is stored on compact flashcards in the TCMS, which have been severely damaged, it said.
Board chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said that it would also be investigating TRA personnel.
“We would check if the driver was certified to operate the Puyuma Express or had not been operating it for some time. Would another driver make the mistake if he were in the same situation?” Young said. “All these questions should be examined one after another so that we can identify the systemic problem.”
Asked how much more time the board would need to finish its investigation now that it would be looking at new evidence, Young said that it would do its best to complete it as quickly as possible, without committing to a specific timeline.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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