Trains on the Taipei Metro’s elevated Wenhu (Brown) Line would run at reduced speeds during sudden downpours, lightning storms and other bad weather conditions to prevent stoppages, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday.
To keep the driverless trains running, the system’s safety mechanism has been adjusted to automatically reduce their speeds by 75 percent when bad weather occurs, TRTC said in a statement.
Taipei Metro personnel would also be dispatched to board trains for monitoring purposes, the company said.
Photo: CNA
The announcement was made after a Wenhu Line train stopped for about 10 minutes during rush hour on May 7, causing service disruptions on the line.
The train lost traction as it had rained that day, triggering a safety mechanism that stopped the driverless function and could only be overridden manually, the company said.
The incident caused a public backlash, prompting TRTC to convene a meeting of experts on Wednesday to conduct a comprehensive review of the Wenhu Line system, which was built in such a way that it would cease operations in typhoon conditions.
The line needs to be made more weather resistant as extreme climate conditions become more common, TRTC said yesterday.
The section that runs through Neihu District (內湖) has steel tracks, making it more prone to slippage in heavy rain.
In addition to applying an anti-slip coating for better traction, trains would also reduce speeds to improve safety and reduce delays, the company said.
There was a similar incident on Thursday, when a Wenhu Line train stopped amid a thunderstorm, with a driver required to override the system and get it moving again.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS