Issues have been addressed at a worksite at Yuanshan MRT Station, Taipei Rapid Transport Corp said on Wednesday, two weeks after debris tumbled from the elevated platform to a sidewalk.
The company made the comments after Taipei City Councilor Chung Pei-ling (鍾佩玲) released a photograph — apparently taken by an eyewitness — showing a piece of concrete on the sidewalk near the southern end of the station in Datong District (大同).
The debris seemed to be from a construction project to add sound barriers, Chung said.
Photo: CNA
However, there were no warning signs or fences beneath the worksite, she said.
The MRT operator said that it received a report from the public about fallen debris at 5pm on Aug. 15 and personnel were sent to cordon off the area.
No one was injured, it added.
A probe showed that a section of a parapet had broken off from the station’s southern face, which was being worked on by a subcontractor, it said.
Workers employed by the subcontractor had ignored safety procedures by removing structural bolts before detaching the section they were working on, causing the block to fall, it said.
The subcontractor has been fined NT$50,000 and ordered to review of its operational procedures, Taipei Rapid Transport said, adding that work would only be done at night in a bid to decrease the risk to public safety.
The work that caused the incident is not related to the sound barrier project, which is a separate project at the other end of the station, it added.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for