The nation’s first confidential railway safety reporting system is to be launched in August, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.
The government has a system through which airlines are required to report certain types of accidents, but they also have internal systems to record incidents, the board said.
However, there is a confidential aviation safety reporting system that allows airlines to voluntarily report accidents and not be subject to punitive measures for reporting them, it said.
The confidential system has been in operation for almost 20 years and has been proven to enhance the nation’s aviation safety by allowing carriers to voluntarily report unsafe situations, explain how they handle them and make suggestions, the board said.
Similar systems would be built for railway, waterway and highway operators, it said.
A confidential safety reporting system for railways would be launched first on Aug. 1, board chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said, adding that it would consult the designers of a similar system in the US.
The board would ensure that railway operators could report incidents via a Web site, Facebook and Line, Young said.
National Train Drivers’ Union secretary-general Wu Chang-chih (吳長智) said that having such a system is necessary, particularly after a commuter train collided with a truck whose engine flamed out while it was driving over a railway crossing in Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District (楠梓), injuring four people.
A similar incident occurred in Taoyuan’s Pushin District (埔心) eight years ago, when a train hit a gravel truck on a crossing, killing the train driver and injuring the train conductor and 21 passengers, Wu said.
After the Pushin incident, the union suggested that the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) install an infrared system on railway crossings on curves to detect barriers on the tracks, he said, adding that the TRA has not been active over the matter, as it involves budget allocations.
Once the new reporting system is launched, train drivers could report unsafe situations and make safety suggestions on it in addition to the TRA’s internal system, Wu said.
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