The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to set new criteria to prevent disasters in major transport hubs, following a knife attack at Taipei Main Station on Dec. 19.
The rampage at two MRT stations left four people dead, including the suspect, and 11 injured.
Lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday questioned ministry officials about safety at major transport hubs and popular tourist destinations ahead of New Year’s Eve tomorrow and the Lunar New Year holiday in February.
Photo: CNA
Although Taipei Main Station has a joint disaster prevention center, it has held only three drills since 2019, two of which were tabletop exercises, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The station’s emergency response procedures are mainly designed to help personnel cope with natural disasters, but they should also include responses to mass violence situations, Lin said, adding that cell broadcasts should be used to notify people to not enter the station if an attack is under way.
Artificial intelligence could be used to detect unusual behavior to prevent an attack, provided that the data collected can be de-identified to address privacy concerns, Lee said.
Most people do not know that the safety in and around Taipei Main Station is maintained by three separate law enforcement units, DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.
The Taipei MRT system is under the supervision of the Taipei City Police Department’s Rapid Transit Division, while the Railway Police Bureau oversees Taipei Railway Station, Taiwan Railway Corp and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, and the Taipei Police Department is responsible for safety outside the station, Tsai said.
The National Police Agency should consider merging the operations of 110 and 119 hotlines to better respond to incidents at the station, Tsai said.
The 110 hotline is for reporting traffic accidents and criminal activity, while the 119 hotline is for reporting fires and other life-threatening situations.
“People do not need to know the division of labor among law enforcement agencies, but they should know one number they can call whenever they see an abnormality at the railway station,” Tsai said.
MRT passengers know they can press an emergency button inside the train car when there is an emergency, but such a system should also be available inside Taipei Main Station, Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said the ministry would today meet with important stakeholders and would submit new disaster prevention criteria in three months.
“An emergency response mechanism already exists, but horizontal communication among agencies needs to be enhanced. We are reviewing whether we should increase the number of emergency buttons inside Taipei Main Station. We would also hold a joint exercise drill at the end of next month,” he said.
In related news, the Taipei City Police Department yesterday said it had upgraded security measures to enhance safety during New Year’s Eve events.
More than 1,300 police officers and volunteers would be deployed, along with two bomb-sniffing dogs, and, for the first time, command and lighting vehicles, it said.
Xinyi Precinct Chief Lee Hsien-tsang (李憲蒼) said that in an addition to an increased police presence, it has also implemented a range of safety preparations, including raising the visibility of officers, increasing patrol density, conducting security checks at the event sites, and strengthening the detection and control of suspicious and dangerous items.
Additional reporting by CNA
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