The Legislature today passed amendments to the Railway Act (鐵路法) that impose criminal penalties on those who use violence, coercion or threats to obstruct railway personnel while they are carrying out their duties.
Under the amendments, such offenses are punishable by up to three years in prison and a fine of up to NT$300,000.
If the obstruction results in death, offenders face life in prison or a prison term of more than seven years, while cases resulting in serious injury carry terms of three to 10 years, the amendments state.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The revisions were modeled on provisions addressing violence in emergency rooms under the Medical Care Act (醫療法), with the aim of improving on-duty safety protections for railway personnel.
The amendments would authorize railway operators to refuse service when there is a risk that passengers could obstruct railway personnel using violence, coercion or threats.
Before the government-run Taiwan Railways Administration became corporatized on Jan. 1 last year, such violence could be prosecuted under Article 135 of the Criminal Code, which punishes threats or violence against a public official.
Since the beginning of last year, that clause no longer applied to new hires, necessitating more direct provisions to crack down on violence against railway employees. There have been 14 cases of such violence so far this year.
The new amendments would also raise fines to deter improper profit-seeking involving train tickets.
Those who resell train tickets at higher prices or exchange them for improper profits would face a fine of 10 to 50 times the ticket fare, based on the number of tickets involved, the amendments state.
Privately run and state-owned railway operators that fail to take necessary safety measures or do not effectively train and manage their personnel would face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$300,000, they state.
The Legislative Yuan's Transportation Committee had earlier completed a joint review of amendment proposals submitted by lawmakers from across party lines, passing them at the committee stage without reserving any provisions or requiring cross-party negotiations.
The amendments today passed their third reading at a legislative plenary session without objections.
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