Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) on Thursday lost a civil case in which it was seeking NT$612 million (US$22.08 million) in compensation from Japanese company Sumitomo Corp. over a train accident in Taiwan that resulted in the deaths of 18 people three years ago.
Sumitomo Corp is not liable for damage caused by the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 in 2018 and does not need to pay compensation to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), the Taipei District Court said yesterday.
The nation’s largest railway operator was seeking NT$610 million (US$22.01 million) from the Tokyo-based train manufacturer after the Taitung-bound express crashed on Dec. 21, 2018, near Sinma (新馬) Station in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), killing 18 people and injuring more than 200.
“We have yet to receive the official ruling from the court, but we will consult our lawyers before considering further legal action,”
The conductor deemed responsible for the fatal 2018 derailment of a Puyuma Express train was yesterday sentenced to four years and six months in prison for negligent homicide, while two Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) officials were found not guilty.
The Yilan District Court determined that the cause of the crash on Oct. 21, 2018, which killed 18 people and injured 200, was the direct result of conductor Yu Chen-chung (尤振仲) turning off the automatic train protection (ATP) system after mistakenly attributing it to power failures originating from the air compression system.
Without the ATP system, which automatically slows the train when it
By Lin Ching-lun and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe conductor deemed responsible for the fatal 2018 derailment of a Puyuma Express train was yesterday sentenced to four years and six months in prison for negligent homicide, while two Taiwan Railways Administration （TRA） officials were found not guilty.