Measures to reduce accidents at railroad crossings nationwide are part of a six-year railway safety plan, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said on Monday.
Accidents at railway crossings fell to only 12 last year, but have rebounded this year, with 11 in the first six months alone, the TRA said.
The measures include installing large signs on gantries above every crossing to inform people that a train is coming and from which direction, it said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Railways Administration
Flashing signals would be installed on both sides of the road at crossings, the agency said, adding that there would be four sets of emergency buttons, up from two.
The safety improvements would be completed by the end of next month, it said.
New automatic systems to detect objects intruding on tracks would be installed at all 293 crossings on its routes, the TRA said.
The new system detects intruding objects using radar and thermal induction technology, which improves its sensitivity, it said.
The current system detects objects between 75cm and 1.5m in height, while the new system detects objects that are from 30cm to 3m tall, the agency said.
When an object is detected, the information would be relayed to train drivers so they can respond quickly to an emergency situation, the TRA said, adding that the system would be activated at 100 crossings by the end of this year.
Systems at the remaining crossings would be activated by the end of next year, it said.
The agency said that 1,200km of fiber optic cabling would be installed along its routes to replace copper cables, which would ensure the reliability and stability of its signal-monitoring system.
The project is to be completed by the end of this year, it said.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their