The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the third reading of the State-run Taiwan Railways Corporation Act (國營台灣鐵路股份有限公司設置條例) that would corporatize the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) and transform it into state-owned Taiwan Railways Corp.
The Executive Yuan is to set the date on which the new act is to take effect as the implementation of some of its regulations would take time to prepare.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) hailed the passage of the act as a great start to reforming the TRA, and promised to continue improving its safety and operating efficiency.
Photo taken from Su Tseng-chang’s Facebook page
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said the act “made history” by passing a third reading with the support of the president, the Cabinet and the legislature.
A cross-agency task force is to be established to review the act and determine the organizational structure by the end of this year, he said, adding that the company is scheduled to begin operations in January next year.
The legislature yesterday reviewed the proposed act and voted on the six articles discarded during cross-caucus negotiations.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, the Taiwan People’s Party caucus and the New Power Party caucus all proposed motions to amend the articles.
The motions of the DPP caucus passed.
Under the act, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to establish Taiwan Railways Corp and to run a sound railway business through enterprise management.
The act defines the company’s business scope as the operation of rail transport, related affiliated businesses stipulated in the Railway Act (鐵路法), investment, reinvestment or operation of railway-related businesses, and other businesses commissioned or approved by the ministry.
The company can set up branches in Taiwan or abroad based on its business needs, it says.
The company should establish a board of 11 to 15 members and three to five supervisors, it says, adding that one-third of the members should be experts in railway, transportation, industrial management, law or finance.
At least one-fifth of the board members should be appointed by the Taiwan Railway Labor Union (TRLU), and people of any one gender must comprise at least one-third of board members and supervisors, it says.
A security management committee should be established under the board with a general manager who has experience in transportation or business management, the act says.
The ministry should launch a fund to handle the short-term debt of the TRA, including commercial paper issued by the TRA and its subordinate institutions, and loans from financial institutions, it says.
The ministry is to help TRA employees transfer to other agencies according to their will, or be transferred to the new company, it says.
For employees who transfer to the company, the same seniority, salary, system of retirement, pension scheme and working conditions should be maintained, the act says.
For those who voluntarily leave the company within six months of its establishment, a maximum of seven months’ salary will be paid as a relief payment, it says.
TRLU chairman Chen Shih-chieh (陳世杰) said that the act being passed was not surprising and the crucial thing now is the cross-agency task force negotiations.
The TRLU is to form a negotiation group to communicate with the TRA and the ministry, especially on topics such as the welfare of employees and the problem of low salaries paid to junior personnel, he said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS