Last week, train service resumed through the Cingshuei Tunnel (清水隧道) in Hualien County, where the Taroko Express No. 408 derailment took place on April 2, and a new minister of transportation and communications stepped up after his predecessor resigned to take responsibility for the fatal accident.
The Executive Yuan also approved a draft amendment that would stiffen the penalties for offenders convicted of negligent homicide to especially target those charged with forgery and negligence after the derailment.
However, these should not be a farewell to the Taroko Express accident, but rather a reminder of what the government and the Taiwan Railways
New wells pose no bullet train safety threats: Water agency
04/11/2021 07:27 PM
CNA file photo
Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Newly drilled wells providing much needed water in central Taiwan amid a serious drought will not cause further ground subsidence that could threaten the safety of Taiwan s bullet train line, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said Sunday.
The newly drilled wells in Changhua and Yunlin counties are in areas that do not have ground subsidence problems, the WRA said in a statement in response to concerns raised by a newspaper Sunday that the wells could cause further subsidence along the bullet train route and threaten the line s safety.
CNA file photo
Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) A ban on eating and drinking on public transportation will be lifted from March 2, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) announced Tuesday, following confirmation from the Central Epidemic Command Center.
The lifting of restrictions pertains to trains, highway buses, ferries, domestic flights and also post offices nationwide, the MOTC said, however reminding the public to put their face masks back on after eating.
The lifting of the ban does not apply to city buses or the Mass Rapid Transit system, where the rules have always existed.
The ban was imposed from Feb. 1 to reduce the potential transmission of COVID-19 after Taiwan began reporting domestic cases of the coronavirus infection linked to the Taoyuan General Hospital in January.
Disease hotline took more than 2.02m calls last year
OPTIMAL PROTECTION: A committee has advised that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine’s two doses should be taken at least eight weeks apart, the health minister said
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that its toll-free 1922 hotline had received more than 2.02 million calls in the past year, contributing greatly to conveying correct information about COVID-19.
The 1922 hotline was established after the SARS outbreak in 2003 for the Centers for Disease Control to answer public inquiries about diseases, Chunghwa Telecom Co assistant vice president Chuang Wen-ming (莊文明) said at a CECC news conference yesterday.
The government’s autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program is to continue beyond Sunday, but eating and drinking on high-speed trains would be allowed from Monday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that while there were no new confirmed cases in Taiwan yesterday, the global COVID-19 situation remains serious, so the autumn-winter COVID-19 prevention program would be extended beyond its Sunday deadline.
“Border control measures, including requiring a negative polymerase chain reaction test result obtained within three days of boarding a plane to Taiwan, and undergoing quarantine in a