The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) should install barriers and detectors on slopes along the railways to avoid intrusion of foreign objects on railway tracks, a railway expert said yesterday.
The speed of a Mass Rapid Transit or a light rail system train is about 20kph to 60kph, and their risk of impact hazard is low, said National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology electronics engineering professor Chang Chien Jia-jen (張簡嘉壬), who is also the director of the university’s railway technology center.
The high-speed rail system, on the other hand, can operate at up to 300kph, Chang Chien said.
As such, its slope protection system is integrated with the train system to minimize impact hazards, he said.
“The speed of TRA trains has increased from 80kph to 90kph to 130kph to 150kph. However, its trains are not integrated with slope detectors, which increases security risks,” he said, adding that the TRA should protect its railway tracks similar to the high-speed rail system.
Chang Chien said that the Taroko Express derailment on Friday and a Puyuma Express derailment in 2018 both happened at curves.
Both are tilting trains, which means that they can tilt to counter the centrifugal force when traveling through curves and do not need to slow down, he said.
“I would suggest that the TRA reconsider if it is necessary to require both express trains to slow down when passing through curves, particularly if the curve is blocking the driver’s line of sight,” he added.
In the short term, the railway agency should identify possible risk factors along the railway tracks, Chang Chien said, adding that barriers and slope detectors should be installed at high-risk sections.
The agency should install transponders at curves that would be integrated with automatic train protection systems, which would automatically slow down the train if a foreign object enters the railway tracks, he said.
In the long run, the agency should find ways to stabilize slopes, as detectors alone cannot prevent the intrusion of foreign objects, he said.
The TRA said it has budgeted NT$275 million (US$9.64 million) to install slope warning systems at 25 high-risk railway sections as part of a six-year plan to improve the safety of the railway system, adding that it plans to complete installing the systems next year.
No slope alarm system has been installed at the spot where Friday’s derailment occurred, the agency said.
“We have asked the TRA to consider if there are other sections where foreign objects could intrude,” in light of the accident, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS