The Executive Yuan yesterday appointed Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) as the new minister of transportation.
Wang is to succeed Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), who tendered his resignation after the derailment of Taroko Express No. 408 on April 2, in which 49 people were killed and 244 injured.
It was the nation’s worst railway accident in nearly six decades.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications via CNA
After taking office, Wang’s main task is to reform the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).
Lin is scheduled to leave his post today, after Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) approved his resignation last week.
Railway Bureau Director-General Allen Hu (胡湘麟) was appointed as the new deputy minister of transportation, the Executive Yuan said.
An inauguration ceremony is to be held today at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
Minister Without Portfolio and Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said that the government is determined to reform the railway agency.
Such a challenging task should be handled by a team of professionals who are good at enforcement, capable of communicating with members of the Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU) and able to quickly identify core issues and act to address them.
Wang and Hu have extensive experience at the transportation ministry, particularly in matters related to railway safety.
“The public is expecting that … the TRA, a government agency, will begin to operate like a corporation and address occupational safety issues. We hope that the new management team at the MOTC will reform the TRA and give people a safe railway system,” Lo said.
Apart from the safety of the TRA system, reforms should also ensure that the agency can become financially sustainable without compromising on workers’ interests, Lo said.
Meanwhile, people should have no trouble obtaining tickets and have access to a punctual railway service, he added.
Wang yesterday told reporters that his first task as transportation minister would be to combine the resources of the TRA, Railway Bureau and the Directorate-General of Highways to examine 184 construction sites related to TRA projects by the end of this month.
Any problems at these sites would be addressed within 100 days, he added.
“I have personally spoken with the TRLU members. Certain departments in the agency will be restructured first, which will help improve the agency’s operations,” he said.
“We will also make sure workers’ rights are not compromised before turning the agency into a state-run corporation,” Wang said.
A new TRA director-general would also be announced soon, he added.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS