Police and rail officials denied responsibility yesterday after a truck smashed into a train overpass, damaging the track above and leading to a derailment 30 minutes later.
It was the second rail crash in less than three weeks.
Two people were injured in the accident, and rail traffic between Taichung and Changhwa was paralyzed after the crash yesterday. The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA, 台灣鐵路局) announced that normal rail service would resume at 6am today.
PHOTO: SUN YI-FANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The passenger train was out of service at the time, but the engineer, conductor and the truck driver were injured in the incident.
The container truck, at around
4:50am, crashed into a rail overpass about 200m from the Taichung Train Station, bending the rail tracks on the bridge. The 4.2m-high truck crashed and stuck under the bridge as it tried to pass under it. The height limit of the bridge is 3.7m.
PHOTO: SUN YI-FANG, TAIPEI TIMES
At 5:20am, as a Tzu Chiang express train crossed the bridge, its nine coaches derailed and careened into one of the station platforms.
"To my shock I discovered that the rail track had deformed into an "S" shape about 100 meters before we reached the bent rail. I pulled the emergency break and the train lost control and derailed. We didn't receive any warning," train engineer Su Shih-shui (蘇石水) said yesterday after he was sent to the hospital.
Su recieved three stitches in his right arm.
The train was out of service when the accident occurred, carrying only a crew of three. The train's conductor, Wu Chin-chuan (吳進傳), and the truck driver Hsu Chieh-shi (徐結士), were sent to Cheng Ching Hospital (澄清醫院) in Taichung City. Although the doctor at the hospital said that the injured were not in critical condition, they were being held for further observation.
The police opened a full investigation into the accident yesterday.
The accident damaged two electric polls, one platform and part of a building at the Taichung Train Station.
"When the accident [with the truck] happened, the police didn't realize it's possible impact on the rail track, so we were not informed," said Chang Hsien-chang (
Seeking to deflect blame for the mishap, Chang said, "With all the damage caused by the derailment -- a result of the violation of traffic regulations by a truck driver -- the TRA is actually the victim in this accident," he said.
The head of Taichung's West District police station sought to dispel any charges of police responsibility, saying, "We were sent to record the accident, not knowing that the railway line was damaged."
Both the West District police station and the Taichung City First Police Station, which informed the former of the accident, told the Taipei Times last night that they didn't know who had initially informed police of the accident.
The TRA yesterday arranged shuttle buses to transfer passengers between Taichung and Changhwa.
Meanwhile, two cars of a construction train loaded with logs derailed at 3.30pm yesterday on a level crossing near Kunyang (
Although no injuries were reported, three southbound trains were delayed because of the incident. Normal service on the that line resumed at 5:30pm yesterday.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data