By next year, 38 new rockfall detection stations are to be installed along rail lines to protect against collisions, Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) chairman Tu Wei (杜微) said on Wednesday.
Falling rocks have become a major concern following the earthquake that hit Hualien County on April 3 and subsequent aftershocks, resulting in the derailment of the first car of a Puyuma Express train on Wednesday last week near Hualien County’s Heping Station. No one was injured.
The incident occurred in a section that was not categorized at high risk of rockfalls, where an alert system should be installed.
Photo courtesy of a reader
During a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee on Wednesday, many lawmakers raised concern that the TRC only has 26 rockfall warning stations compared with 95 along the high-speed rail, despite it servicing the mountainous east coast.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) responded that plans are in place to install 38 more stations.
More consideration would also be given for situations such as the one that occurred last week, in which a boulder fell from a roadway onto the tracks, Wang added.
The new stations would be built at a cost of about NT$610 million (US$18.8 million), and are expected to be completed by the middle of next year, Tu said.
He also vowed to increase communication between the TRC and the Highway Bureau.
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