The Maokong Gondola system experienced another equipment malfunction yesterday afternoon, forcing Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) to shut down the system for about four hours to inspect it.
The incident happened at Corner Two Station when TRTC workers heard some unusual noise on the headstock of a wheel, and the company immediately sent all passengers to nearby stations at 3:10pm before shutting down the system for inspections in order to prevent visitors from being trapped mid-air, the TRTC said.
The cable car resumed service at 7pm after the problem was fixed.
The incident happened only days after an equipment failure at the Corner One Station last Saturday caused a breakdown and left 323 visitors trapped in the cabins for about two hours.
Taipei City Government said that before Saturday's breakdown, a construction consultant had also heard some unusual noise in the morning, which was believed to be related to the equipment failure.
The service was also temporarily canceled at noon yesterday due to a thundershower, and resumed at 2:20pm before being canceled again for mechanical problems.
Earlier yesterday, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) once again shrugged off growing concerns over the safety of the system, insisting that the preliminary inspection found no urgent reason to halt operations.
"We continue to regard passengers' safety as our first priority," he said at Taipei City Hall.
Hau said the city government is demanding its departments, TRTC and POMA of France, the system's builder, to present an inspection and evaluation report on the system as soon as possible.
Taipei City Secretariat Deputy Director Yang Hsi-an (
While director of Taipei City's information department, Yang Hsiao-tung (
"Those passengers were trapped mid-air for more than two hours on such a hot day. It's reasonable to ask for more than NT$10,000," DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Wen-ying (李文英) said at Taipei City Council.
TRTC gave NT$1,058 and free tickets to each of the 323 visitors after the breakdown on Saturday.
Chen Po-ching (陳柏菁), a Taipei City Consumer Protection Ombudsman, agreed that passengers deserved better compensation, and suggested that they should apply for national compensation.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three