The truck that caused Taiwan’s worst train crash in decades was on the line for just over a minute before it was struck, officials have said, as salvage teams worked to remove the most damaged carriages.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 210 were injured in Friday’s crash, which sent a packed eight-car train hurtling into the sides of a narrow tunnel near the eastern coastal city of Hualien.
Investigators said on Tuesday that the Taroko Express hit a railway maintenance truck on the line in a “head-on collision” moments before it entered the tunnel.
The vehicle slipped down a steep embankment and prosecutors are working to determine whether the driver failed to secure the parking brake or if the truck suffered a mechanical failure.
2021/04/07 11:41 Seconds before train collided with crane truck. (TTSB image) Seconds before train collided with crane truck. (TTSB image) TAIPEI (Taiwan News) Four days after the deadly Hualien train derailment, a video was released showing that the locomotive s driver had a mere seven seconds to try to halt the train after a crane truck had rolled onto the tracks. On Tuesday (April 6), the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) provided the findings of the preliminary investigation into the accident based on data obtained from the train s event recorder and dashcam video footage. The presentation included video footage showing the final 10 seconds before the train s engine slammed into the truck.
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.
Truck fell onto track less than 2 minutes before fatal train crash
04/06/2021 10:49 PM
Image courtesy of the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board
Taipei, April 6 (CNA) The Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) has deduced that the fatal collision between a Taroko express train and a crane truck on April 2 occurred less than two minutes after the truck fell onto the track near the entrance to the Qingshui Tunnel in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan.
The organization, which is independent of the government, announced at a presentation in Taipei Tuesday the findings of its investigation into the accident that killed 50 people and injured over 200.
Its results were based on data and video chips retrieved from the train s drive recorder and its automatic protection and control and management systems.