The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board on Thursday issued four recommendations to Taiwan Railway Corp and the Railway Bureau regarding shunting operations amid a spate of such incidents over the past year.
The board issued its recommendations based on an investigation into an incident at the Hualien depot on April 20 last year.
The operator of a shunting engine had approached a “stop and restart” sign when a signaler used a red flag to tell it to stop, but the operator did not comply with the instruction and continued to move toward the stationary train, the board said in the investigation report.
Photo: CNA
When the shunter realized the operator had not complied, he was unable to intervene, as no equipment was available nearby to manually stop the train, it said.
Although the shunter continued waving the flag, the operator did not see the warning, it said, adding that the moving train was going about 12kph when the collision occurred.
Taiwan Railway relies heavily on visual signaling, requiring operators to monitor multiple cues simultaneously, which reduces the effectiveness of warnings, it said.
The board recommended introducing audio alerts in some situations to ensure operators receive timely warnings, it said.
Taiwan Railway lacks clear shunting procedures and failed to specify that shunters should contact operators by radio in emergencies, increasing the risk of collisions, the board said.
In addition, damaged or poorly maintained signage at the station made it difficult for drivers and shunters to judge braking distances, it said.
The board also found that the yard had disabled the automatic protection system during shunting operations, raising the risk of collisions.
It made three recommendations to Taiwan Railway: Evaluate the addition of effective signaling methods for shunters to alert operators in emergency situations or other ways to immediately stop shunting operations; repair or reinstall damaged or fallen “stop and restart” signs; and reassess the appropriateness deactivating the automatic protection systems during shunting operations.
On Monday there was a low-speed collision between two electric trains during a shunting operation at the Qidu (七堵) shunting yard in Keelung.
The 114 diesel-hydraulic locomotive, coupled to the EMU912, pushed the electric train into the EMU3000 during a coupling operation, the board said in a statement on its Web site.
Car Nos. 5, 6 and 10 of the EMU920 were derailed, as was the lead car of the EMU912, it said, adding that one person was injured.
Chinese-language media reports said that a worker fell during the incident and was taken to hospital with injuries that were not serious.
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