TRA trains mourn deaths of two drivers
REFORM: Premier Su Tseng-chang vowed to accelerate changes in the TRA, including installing smart surveillance systems to detect track intrusions and improve safety
By Lee Hsing Fang, Wang Chun-chi and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, staff writer, with CNA
Trains across the nation sounded their horns simultaneously yesterday morning to pay tribute to two train drivers killed in last week’s Taroko Express crash, while the Executive Yuan vowed to speed up reform of the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA).
More than 120 TRA trains sounded their horns at 9:28am yesterday the time when Taroko Express No. 408 hit a crane truck as it was about to enter the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林) to mourn the deaths of driver Yuan Chun-hsiu (袁淳修) and assistant driver Chiang Pei-feng (江沛峰).
President unveils three major TRA reform directives
‘UNSHIRKABLE’: President Tsai Ing-wen said instilling a safety-centric mindset and safety standards among construction workers is of the utmost importance
By Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNA
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday laid out three major areas of reform for the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) following Friday last week’s fatal train crash, saying that there is no need to doubt the government’s determination, as reforming the agency is its “unshirkable responsibility.”
Tsai made the remarks in a speech ahead of a Democratic Progressive Party Standing Committee meeting, during which she observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the Taroko Express crash, which killed 50 people and injured more than 200 after colliding with a truck as it was about to enter the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien’s Sioulin Township (秀林).
Final railcar of Taroko Express No. 408 removed
Staff writer, with CNA, HUALIEN
The final railcar of Taroko Express No. 408, which was involved in a deadly crash on Friday last week that left 50 people dead and more than 200 injured, was removed from the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien County late on Tuesday.
The first car of the eight-car train which crashed into a crane truck that had rolled onto the tracks, derailed and slammed into the wall of the tunnel was hauled out from the tunnel by an excavator at 10:52pm.
As it emerged, a large portion of the front left of the carriage, running from the nose to behind the driver’s compartment, was revealed to be missing, apparently shorn off by the impact of the collision.
Task force to examine TRA documents
DETECTION DEMANDS: A KMT lawmaker asked what kind of a country would allow another fatal derailment so soon after the Puyuma Express No. 6432 crash in 2018
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee yesterday passed a motion to form a task force that would require the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) to turn in all documents related to the derailment of the Taroko Express No. 408 in Hualien County on Friday last week.
The committee passed the motion and several other resolutions related to the derailment after briefings by Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and TRA Acting Director-General Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) about the crash, which killed 50 people and injured more than 200.